Star VS The Forces of Destined Fate
by Fortio Gracio
Summary: In an alternate timeline, a new child, on the same day as Star, comes to Echo Creek High. Why Is he there, what is his purpose, is he an ally, or is he an enemy? Only time will tell. Rated M for future content. Star A/U
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Greetings, Star Butterfly!

Crickets were chirping in the night, The solitary sound to be heard even for the most attentive souls. While most of the world slept, a single being sat in the solitude and silence. His dark hair standing in various directions, his green eyes watching the stars in the sky move as he simply sat their in silence, his face reflecting the light, with two streams of tears falling to the ground. This wasn't where he wanted to be. It wasn't where he should be. But he gave up that choice. It wasn't his to make anymore.

He simply looked to the sky as it slowly started to turn pink. Today was the first day of school. He hated the idea. He enjoyed learning, that in and of itself was fine. It was even an entirely new school and town. New teachers, new students, new-

"It will be different this time." The boy got up, his cotton pajamas bottoms, a plain black, now caked in dirt. He turned to face the voice. A woman he knew all too well as there. Her voice always grabbing his attention. It never failed him. The woman herself was a head taller than most, far too thin for most guys tastes and she certainly didn't have a lot going for her elsewhere. She was partially bald, a bad accident leaving a large scar on her head. Wigs tended to just make things worse she had found, so she learned to embrace it. She was often mocked by people on the street for her looks, but to him, she was always a welcome sight. Even when she was lying through her teeth.

"Sis, I just want to stay home. We both know what will eventually happen. It always happens." His voice was hoarse. She could tell in an instant that he had probably been up and crying all night.

"Listen, just because it happened last time, or the time before that, doesn't mean it will happen again. I don't work tomorrow, and I already talked to the principal of the school, we will find you a helper, and get you started right. And this time, I did my research, he's a good kid, he won't hurt you." The words were said with genuine affection, but he had very little faith in them. Still, she always wanted the best for him. Even if it was killing him inside.

"Okay. I better go get ready then." With a little effort The boy rose up, and headed back home. In the back of his head, he just knew that nothing would be different. He would be an outcast again. The boy he was to meet may do his best, but he would merely be a catylyst. After all, who could like a monster like him.

That day, three souls were bound for a destined meeting. In too many different places, they didn't all meet. In fact, this was an, anomaly. Several forces took notice of it. A Princess, her Knight, and a boy whose destiny was hidden, even from them. It was a strange anomaly, but interfering too much could throw everything out of wack.

The ones that watched looked to each other, silently agreeing to merely observe. Depending on what happened, they knew they may have to act. And with that, they turned to their respective duties, keeping one eye on the situation as they did.

'_Echo Creek High? Public school? Great. Maybe it really WON'T be as bad as the last one._' His thoughts plagued him endlessly as he walked through the halls. He took note of everything about his surroundings, particularly the exits, and how they lined up with his way home. He had no doubt he would need them in the next few surprisingly quickly made their way to the principal's office, his sister leading the way, only to discover they were not the only two needing to see the principal that day.

As the siblings arrived , they spotted what looked like a cape disappearing into the principal's door, said door closing behind it. Just in front was a woman, moderate height, short, black, curly hair, not ugly, but not pretty, but she had curves for days. A secretary for sure from the golden pin on her shirt confirming.

"Greetings! You must be Olivia Ackleman and Joseph Ackleman. The principal is with another group right now and-" Just then, a tired voice called out to the hallway.

"Is that our other new student? If so send them in too. Might as well take care of everyone at the same time!" The woman appeared annoyed, saying something about student privacy rights, before she showed us to the nearby door. We followed behind and immediately we were terrified.

The principal was an overweight man sitting at his desk, nothing special about him, but the boy immediately turned to the three, very strange visitors. First was an almost normal looking woman in a blue victorian dress, but she had silver-blue hair and dark pink diamonds on her cheeks. Next to her was a very short man. He had long blonde hair, and looked like a well dressed barbarian with an honestly impressive beard and moustache with just a hint of curls. He wore an impressive suit that looked like he was a high ranking Military official in formal wear. Finally, a girl, about his own age. She had golden hair, her mother's looks and hair. Her stockings going from under her greenish-blue dress to her boots with spikes..

"Well, I wasn't expecting this to become so public so fast. May I ask who these two are and why they are in this meeting too?" The short man spoke calmly, directing himself at us as the girl, they assumed to be his daughter, moved behind her mother defensively. As the boy saw her face, the sheer panic, and for a moment, her apparent beauty, nulled his own emotions. He couldn't very well start things horribly. After all, it was certain to go bad, but he had decided to make a small game of how it would go bad without his direct intervention. He quickly composed himself, ready to see how this would all play out.

"To be honest, both of the children are people who have had, traumatic, experiences in their pasts. While we hope to prevent it from happening here, one of the fastest ways to do that is to get them someone who can be friendly, and is used to meeting new, foreign, people. While I was expecting Joseph here, I was unaware of you two going ahead with the plan to transfer here. As time is short, I have no choice but to assign them both to the same boy. He is a wonderful kid, and I assure you all, he will do no harm. There is a reason we call him the safe kid after all!" He let out a small chuckle at his own statement. Putting Olivia at ease, but making Joseph even more upset inside.

He took another look at the girl. She seemed more, inquisitive. And when their eyes locked, Joseph went stiff. The Star girl's eyes, while showing that inquisitiveness that the rest of her body let out, were dead. There was nothing in them. And for her, his eyes were simply dead. The same thought went through both of their heads. '_Maybe, she/he is the same._' Out of the corners of their eyes, the adults all saw the exchange. For a brief moment, a seed of hope appeared. But as the moment moved on to the next, the boy began to have doubts. Catching this, the principal decided to act before the momentum was lost.

"Now, on that note." He reached over and hit a button on a mic stand, his voice resonating from outside the office and probably all throughout the school."Marco Diaz, please report to the principal's office. Marco Diaz to the principal's office." He leaned back and continued.

"He is an excellent student and a very safety inclined one at that. I feel that if anyone has the ability to get you two adjusted, keep Miss Star safe, and keep Mr. Joseph out of any, situations, he would be the one to do it. His home even has a spare bedroom for their foreign exchange students, so his family would probably be very accepting of Miss Star during her tenure here." The woman spoke up at that.

"I do hope so. And since you will be in close proximity to my daughter, I hope you will help her and be a good friend to her." Joseph turned his attention to the girl called Star again. Taking the time to look in her eyes, a few things became obvious. She was over her own inquisitiveness, the Principal having failed to either act fast enough, or appropriately enough; she was clearly NOT keene on the idea of being near him, her nervousness the primary emotion on display as she again had hidden further behind her mother. Finally, what should have been the most obvious, was how pretty she was to him. After getting past the fact she was clearly out of his league, she was plainly cute. Her blue eyes, slim figure, and long legs took him a bit by surprise as she went from just another girl to a pretty girl. A quick glance at her mother and he figured that, perhaps, she would be just as beautiful in a few years as well. As he was about to speak, memories of two towns back made him pause. This was no time to become infatuated.

The short man, throughout all of this, became curious. While he maintained a neutral expression, he was watching the boy with interest. The boy at first seemed apprehensive, then interested, almost friendly, then suddenly, fear. For just a single moment, absolute fear. He rationalized that, if the fear was due to her standing, it would have been evident the entire time, if it was sudden realization of potential harm from himself or his family, it would have been knee jerk at first, followed by caution. The only conclusion was that he, like his daughter, had to have had a horrible experience that rocked him to his core, just as the principal had said. Hopefully, it wouldn't trigger his own daughter's nightmares. The worst outcome could be disastrous for both of them.

"It's okay Joe, they don't mean any harm." Olivia spoke up, trying her best to comfort the boy. It seemed to help. He shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair, and began taking slow, deep breaths. Star, who had been on the fence, was now more at ease.. She had picked up on similar lines of thoughts to her father's and came to the conclusion that, at least now, he was not a problem. Taking a second to look him over, she realized that he was handsome looking. Taking into account that he seemed so much like her, she decided, maybe, to give the boy a chance. Maybe, she could find a friend here. Just as she was about to say something, to break the ice between them, the door opened, sending her fully back behind her mother, who's side she didn't realize she had begun to leave.

"What did you need, Principal, Skeeves…" The new boy noticed the rather large group of people, now crammed into an office clearly now at full capacity. He first noticed Joseph, and began to make assumptions, but what stopped him mid sentence, was the other family. Unsure how to act, he began to babble incoherently as he began to adjust. Unlike Joseph and Olivia, he merely froze for a moment before realizing that nobody else was in a full freakout. He calmed down just as the principal spoke up.

"Glad you're prompt Mr. Diaz. We have in this office two new students for you to help out. First is Joseph Ackleman, a young boy from out of town, he moved here a few days ago and today is his first day. He is a situation 'C' student." Marco's eyes went wide as he looked at Joseph, and Joseph in turn got a good look at Marco.

Marco was a decently built kid, tan skin, brown hair and eyes. He was about the same height as Joseph to boot. His eyes as he looked at Joseph were kind. He was ready to try and help Joe. Sadly, Joe merely saw Marco as another reason not to be involved. Star would befriend Marco, and any hope Joe had was going to simply vanish.

"And this little lady is Star Butterfly, a foreign exchange student from another dimension called Mewni." Joseph twitched heavily, while not unnoticed, Skeeves decided to press on. Drawing attention to it further would only be a detriment. "And she is here as a situation 'C' student." Marco nodded dumbly, taking a quick look at the girl, giving her a small smile and wave, before turning to Joseph, almost aggressively.

"Relax Diaz, they are unrelated." At that Marco was surprised again. His previous demeanor softening as he looked back at Joseph. "That being said, Star will be living in the guest room at your house. Joseph lives about two blocks away from you. He will need your help, just as much as Star, to adjusting life in-" He coughed, it was clearly forced, He almost said something he would have regretted. "Sorry, about that. Burst of cold air." It was enough for Star and Marco, but the three other adults looked at him with either suspicion, or barely hidden anger. "To adjust to life here in Echo Creek. Now, to facilitate this, I give you three leave to explore the school and town for the day. I am sure Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly that you wish to talk to the Diaz's about the living arrangements as well as the compensation for food." They nodded as Star began to hug her parents, seeking the warmth that was about to leave her for an unknown amount of time. That was when Mr. Butterfly spoke up.

"Do you mind if I have a quick word with the boys?" Olivia, Skeeves, and Marco gave their consent. As the three walked out to talk, Joseph noticed his sister walking a little towards Star's Mother, striking up a conversation. He had no time to even listen in as, just outside, there was no sign of the secretary, so the man immediately began talking, just barely passing above a whisper.

"Listen, I need you two to watch over my daughter. I understand if this goes a bit, beyond what either of you want, or what is expected of you, but she has been through a lot. Take these." He produced what looked like two compact mirror's from his pants pockets. "They will allow you to contact myself in the case of anything going, wrong." Joseph and Marco looked to each other and then to the ,am. Marco speaking up.

"Um, Sir-" "River, please call me River while we are alone like this, or with just Star or my wife, Moon. Otherwise, call me King River." "Uh, okay then, River, why do you trust us so much?" Joseph gave a quizzical eyebrow at this. Since River, had asked them to step out, he had the chance to emotionally distance himself from the situation yet again. He was already expecting that, in just a few weeks, he would be all alone again anyway. He saw no purpose in the mirror for himself.

"Because I already know about both of you." They both stared at him incredulously. "Okay then, for proof. Marco, Your nine year crush on Jackie won't go anywhere if you don't talk to her. Joseph, I'm sorry about Margarette." Both of the boys broke into a cold sweat while shock ran through their minds. How could he already know these things?

"Now for why I trust you, Marco, you are a nice boy who prioritizes the safety of others. I feel you will help Star a lot. As for you Joseph, you have been through some of the same situations as my dear daughter, you can understand her pain far better than most people. I do find it, fortuitous, that both of you are here today. So as a father, please, help my daughter." For a brief moment, he took on an air of genuine sorrow. It struck a corde with both boys. Marco decided to give it a chance. Joseph caught himself, and quickly thought things through.

'_If I try, it will only lead to disaster again. But if he can know about Margarette, and me being here today, what else might he know. Better to play along for now. Best case, I get some genuine friends. Worst case, I die. Win-Win_.' "I'll, do my best."

"Same here River." With his sorrow hidden again, River stood up and offered the mirrors to us.

"If you ever need me, simply open them up, and say, 'Call River'. It will connect to me immediately. Please, only use them for emergencies, or to call each other. They are already set up for that. I will handle the bills, you will never find yourselves short of time, but please, do not abuse them. I can make limitations if I so choose." The boys both nodded. Each taking their own thoughts on the matter as they stepped back in. From the sounds, and the look on the principal's face, the two ladies had been talking about how pretty each of them and Star was. Star herself was crimson.

"Oh, looks like the men are back. Better tone down the conversation!" Both women laughed. As Olivia zipped up her purse, it was obvious to Joe that not much was going to fly past either monarch.

"Well the ones that could leave anyway." The principal was clearly ready for the day to end. "Well, with all that done and taken care of, I suggest the three kids go ahead with these notes, and start learning about their new school, and their new town. Now go ahead and go off you three. And be safe! I need to get going soon myself. The ice cream shop sells out when it gets too late!" With that, he stood up and ushered all of the people out with impressive success. They were all outside his office, with himself holding a chest full of coins from the sound of it. That was when Moon spoke up.

"Well, that was rather sudden. Remember to stay safe kids. We will be in touch, but we simply must head on off to the kingdom. It sadly won't run itself forever. Take care of our Star, please. It's all we ask." With a somber bow and a small farewell, the monarch's left. Just then, a phone vibrated in Olivia's purse. She reached in and removed it.

"Ugh. A text from the boss. He wants me to come in so he can show me around. Apparently it's a slow day and he feels it would be a good one to get me started. Least it's free double time, but still, Joe, be safe." She gave him a hug as she lowered herself to his ear. "Give them a shot. Eventually, you will hit a homerun, and I really feel this is that time." They were new words. She had always just left it at a chance. Never being that confident. With her departure, Marco began to show them around the school.

It was quickly apparent why he was called the safe kid. He steered the two of them clear of every potential hazard in the hallways, showed them were all their classes were, most of which involved him, and as they headed towards town, Marco decided the brake from constant talking about the school would be a wonderful opportunity to learn about his two new charges.

"So, Star, you're a princess huh?" Joe inwardly scoffed. He knew Marco would start with her. Who would talk to him over the cute girl?

"Oh, yeah. I'm the heir to the throne. Got my magical wand yesterday and really flubbed up a few spells. Nearly destroyed half the kingdom. All after coming back from, from, fr-" She was starting to hyperventilate. How she had managed to go from her being a princess to that at first stupefied the boys, but as she began to panic, both of them instinctively put a hand on her shoulders. It seemed to reset her, her breath was quickly caught as she took a moment before returning to her neutral expression. "Thank you. I was sent to a place called Saint Olga's." At that moment, a thunder crash and distant scream could be heard. Oddly, the scream sounded like Star.

"I, I don't want to remember it any more than that." Her tone, bearing, and emotions piled on Marco as he silently decided never to push for the information. Joe took note, however, that Star didn't need any talk about it. Perhaps, she wanted to talk about it, but the memory was so bad, it froze her up. He would ponder this for now, but offer a few words for her sake.

"It's fine. There are some things that take time to talk about. Even if we want to. Remember,, you can always say no to us. We do take that for an answer. Or at least I do."

"Yeah Star, like Joe said, it's fine to say no." He offered her a smile and she looked to him, then to Joe, smiling a little at Joe.

"Thanks guys. Maybe one day." Marco nodded and the three of them continued on. They went around town for several hours when, as Marco was about to tell them all about his favorite taco restaurant, a clock tower rang in the distance. Six strikes.

"Oh man, it's already getting late! We better head home. Come on, it's not too far to my house, and if it's as close as Skeeves said, Joe, you should be able to get home quickly too." They followed his quick pace, with Joe speaking up, surprising himself in the process.

"Sis texted me a while back. She won't be home till late. Found herself a date." Joe knew what that really meant. His sister was the light of his life, but she had serious boy issues. Always finding a new guy to date while away from him. Almost as if he disappeared when she left. He was fine with it. At that, Marco spoke up.

"Well, you could hang at my house for a bit if you're worried. I'm sure my parents would understand." Joe looked at Marco, not really wanting to accept. Star then spoke up.

"It, it would be nice to get to know you a bit more." She had a bit more shine to her eyes. During the entire trip, Star and Marco had started talking more and more. As more places came up, she felt more comfortable talking as she found similarities and acceptance in Marco. Joe had remained mostly silent. Chiming in on very rare occasions, though he made sure to answer their questions honestly, even if he mostly gave one word answers. He wanted to tell them no, but the way Star looked up him. She seemed so innocent at that moment. So, genuine, that Joe finally answered before he could think it through.

"Fine. Not much to do at home anyway." Star almost seemed to beem for a moment before looking back ahead. What followed shook both of the boys' worlds. Star immediately got along with the Diaz's, and they somehow managed to make Joe a little open with them. The Butterfly's had left Star's stuff downstairs so Marco and Joe hauled the surprisingly heavy chest upstairs where they got their first real sight of magic. Star used a spell and made the entire room transform into what she said her room on Mewni looked like. She even made a bunch of magical puppies that shoot laser beams. After she tried on Marco's room and caused him to storm out, Joe got a massive surprise as Star asked him to help her find and apologize to Marco.

That's when they ran into a little kappa demon named Ludo, and his army of monsters. Joe stayed out of the fight, while Marco and Star directly took them on, taking them with surprising ease. The elation Joe had felt with Star after Marco stormed out wore thin when he realized that, unless he got his hands dirty, Marco was going to be the one she would turn to in times of need. Finally, he headed home, the Diaz's loading him up with extra food from the dinner they had prepared that day, saying he could even keep the containers afterwords, a fact he was grateful for when he arrived home. Olivia had decided at her date's house. As Joe layed down, setting his clock for the morning walk to school, he sighed. He wondered if this is how all other families were.

Were they all so nice? Was that how a real family should be? What had happened to him that day? He had fully expected to be ignored, but Marco actively got him to contribute, and Star, all she had to do was look at him. It felt so natural, like, she was already a part of him. His thoughts slowly turned into tears. No matter how much it felt like he belonged already, he knew it would fall apart. It always had. Once they found out about him, it would be over. Tears over his face, as he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: An old friend comes to visit

Joe had somehow gotten himself talked into spending his afternoon with Star and Marco. Again. Ever since he had met them, he had made a plan to essentially cut off ties before he could become invested in them. They ruined that plan rather quickly. Disarming him with a combination of Marco's genuine friendly attitude, and Star's genuine sadness at missing out on a day with one of her two friends from Earth. At that moment Marco was over a stove, literally counting seconds, waiting to remove the supposedly delicious food within.

Star, after the first few days, was opening up to both of them. Slowly becoming more comfortable with both Marco and Joe. Marco took it as a positive. He had grown quite attached to Star almost instantly. If Joe had just met them, he would have assumed their mother was less than faithful. Joe had constantly expected to be blown off at a moments notice. The two were so close, even Marco's other friends apparently barely hung out with him anymore as he spent all his time with his new roomie Star, and Joe.

"Okay, it's time for-"

"Marco's Super Awesome Nacho's!" Joe looked at them emotionlessly. He had noticed them occasionally finishing each other's sentences before, and the fact that the enthusiasm was increasing each time was starting to grate on Joe already. He wanted them to just start abandoning him so he could go back to daily peace and quiet. As the pair celebrated the 'triangle food' as Star put it, a knock came at the back door.

"I'll get it." Marco said. He placed the nachos on the table as Star eyed them. She was a little skeptical, but the smell had her entranced. She was not going to wait long at this rate. Joe, who had observed the entire process, simply looked at Star, wondering how different Marco's nachos could be. He took a deeper look at Star as Marco got to the door, noticing her shift from anticipation, to a moment of fear, then shyness, before slowly getting more excited. He found it odd until Marco's cry of surprise grabbed both his and Star's attention. At the sight, Star seemed to immediately get excited.

"Oh my goodness! I-I mean, greetings Princess Ponyhead." Joe found it extremely odd that Star had changed herself so quickly, but barely dweled on it at the sight before him. A floating unicorn head. A God damn floating unicorn head.

"Greetings Princess Butterfly. It is I, Princess Ponyhead. I have come here today to check on my dear friend and make sure that nothing untoward is being forced upon you." She quickly eyed both the boys, then the room, and the nachos, before staring directly at Star. Star herself seemed to have changed drastically from even just mere moments before. Her eyes were almost devoid of personality, her posture almost painfully straight, her countenance blank as a slate. After a moment, she seemed to shake herself free of whatever it was and slumped slightly. Marco picked this moment to recover.

"Oh man. That was wie- Oh. That was, real." He was still in shock, but with magic having already been determined to be quite real, he was not knocked out from shock a second time. He got back to his feet, bouncing back and preparing to talk again, but Princess Ponyhead cut him off before he could.

"Settle down little one. The royals of the room are speaking. We will give you a chance in a moment, but for now, please remain silent." She kept staring straight ahead, looking right at Star, and for whatever reason, remaining just outside the door. "May I come in Princess Star."

"'Tis not my house to give permission to enter, and I would request we tone down the formality. While it may not be proper, this is a foreign world in which being too uptight may be seen as rude, though my host, and fellow guest, I believe are very understanding given the time I have been with them." She held her pose, her hands now grasping each other in front of her.

"While I will not mind you yourself being more casual, I am afraid I myself cannot afford such luxuries. I apologize to both you sir host, red-hoodied boy, and you as well, sir stern, for my possible rudeness." She did a mock bow and, after a moment, Marco seemed to catch what was talked about. While both he and Joe were heavily confused at the attitude of both the girls, Marco realized he had to make a few statements to avoid things getting too much more awkward.

"Well, first of all mis-"

"Princess." Star interjected. Marco for a moment was surprised, but acting on his feet, did his best to rebound on the situation.

"Princess, my apologies." He did a little bow which was returned by the unicorn. "First of all, you have my permission for now to enter my home. My parents may not be here at the moment, my father is finishing up practicing for a small art show and my mother is there to assist him, but I am certain you won't be any problem." The floating head bowed again and moved forward slightly, placing her inside the building. She went to get the door, but Marco was one step ahead, moving to close the door. Joe found it odd how smoothly he was doing all this. From a floating head of a unicorn, to the extremely proper behaviour, to the odd change in Star, who Joe noticed was getting more and more nervous by the moment. He came up with a plan of action, realizing that if this got too awkward, he may end up in a crossfire. While Marco went onto the rest of his points, he began to make his way, slowly, to Star.

"Second, as Star said, feel free to, as we humans say, let your hair down. While we will not judge, there is no need to be formal with us." The head merely gave him a gaze, and he quickly got the hint that perhaps, this was as informal as she got. "It's fine if you don't, as I said. Thirdly, let me introduce myself, I am Marco Diaz, you of course know Princess Star Butterfly, and this last gentleman, is Joseph Ackleman." He motioned to Joe who had made his way over to Star, hesitantly putting his hand on her shoulder. She stiffened for a moment before realizing what was happening. She blinked for a bit before visibly relaxing, still holding quite a bit of formality, but it was certainly subdued. "He is partially under my care as Star is. Finally, we were just about to have a snack, would you like to join us?" He waved his hand now at the plate of nachos, giving a small smile all the while.

"To give a more verbal response, as I feel doing otherwise is rude. Firstly, thank you for your hospitality Sir Marco, and a pleasure to meet you Sir Joseph. Second, this is as informal as I will allow myself. A princess must grace all around her with her presence, lifting them up to a higher standard. Not drag them down into incivility. I have already acknowledged you in the first point, but again, pleasure to meet you both." She bowed a bit, probably to make up for missing it on the first round. "Fourth, I must apologize, but a Princess such as myself cannot partake in such unhealthy foods. Princess Star is your temporary charge in your house so it shan't be held against her, but if any insistence is made, I must request my part be given to the Starving Orphans Fund of Galophrey in my name." Marco merely bowed a little as Joe thought about this a moment. How ANYONE could stand to have such a stick up their ass that far was beyond him, but he was certainly not going to start a fight at this point. However, with Marco looking a little dejected, Joe thought of something to say.

"Well, that's unfortunate. I thought a princess, a symbol of authority, should be willing to eat plenty of different, even unhealthy, foods while at a gathering, regardless of formalities. Seems rather rude not to at least try such a treat. And besides, what is the worst that could happen? You act like a proper guest and accept, therefore helping your people look polite and civilized? Sounds like what you want, but rebelling against niceties generously offered out of a token of goodwill is simply what the Ponyheads must do." Out of the corner of his eye Joe saw Star give him an amazed look. He had never spoken so much without having been asked a question before, and it was surprisingly proper, unlike his usual to-the-point style. Ponyhead had a different reaction entirely.

She was stunned. Caught between to decisions on what is proper. What she didn't realize was that she had several options, but no matter how prepared you are, if it's not learned, but memorized, it becomes almost impossible to make the right choice. Joe smiled inwardly as the girl started to panic. He took note as a wildness bled into her eyes. She clearly had something come to mind but before she could enact it, she stopped. She took a deep breath, and composed herself.

"While I certainly do appreciate your, _advice_, Sir Joseph, I still must politely decline. If I had planned myself better I would have had a lighter dinner, but unfortunately I must say I must watch what I eat. A _girl_ must maintain her appearance after all. I will however, try one, if it would please the room." Joe immediately had a thought.

_Compromise. Wasn't expecting that route. Guess she isn't as over the top as I thought. _He quickly did a polite now, signalling his understanding. He figured it was best not to push any further, less he create a problem out of nothing. Star remained awestruck for a moment before composing herself, a bit of wonder on her face, while Marco, now smiling, approached a cabinet and grabbed a small bowl. He placed a few chips and a little cheese into it for Ponyhead, offering it to her kindly.

"The table will be fine Sir Marco. We can all try them at the same time." With a nod, he did as instructed, and the four of them gathered to try the nachos.

And it was love at first bite. Marco smiled proudly as his three guests moaned lightly in bliss. None of them had tasted such flavorful junk food before. Not a word was spoken as Ponyhead seemed to struggle with herself, the wildness Joe had sparked returning for a moment, as Star and Joe himself unknowingly crammed even more nachos into their mouths. Ponyhead look regretful that she had locked herself away from the nachos for the rest of the day. As they finished Marco started cleaning up almost immediately, with Ponyhead chiming in.

"Thank you sir Marco. It is good to see at least Princess Stars guide knows how to treat a lady." She glared at Joe for a hot second before resuming. "Now then, I would like to see this domicile of yours, as was my original intent. I hope that, at the very least, my dear friend is comfortable and i simply can't take any of your words for it. I do hope you understand." Marco politely responded.

"That is fine your highness. Please, come this way." He lead them out of the kitchen, proudly showing off his family home. First stop, dining room.

"This is the dining room, connected with the living room, and has stairs leading towards the second floor, which we can get to in a moment." Ponyhead inspected the room, coming up with a question on the spot.

"How did you light this chandelier? I was informed there was no magic on earth." Star looked questioningly, never having the courage to ask. Marco, with only a moment's hesitation, answered.

"Oh, we use electricity."

"What's that?"

"It's like lightning, but much less powerful and made by machines."

"How do you control it?"

"Wires and some complicated engineering. Not really sure on the specifics."

"If you don't understand it, why use it?"

"It's very convenient."

"How so?"

"Just about everything here runs on electricity. All the lights, the A/C, the T.V., and a ton of small little doodads."

"A/C? T.V.? What are these, doodads?" Ponyhead was clearly confused. Unable to comprehend the different words and items.

"Ohkay. Well, A/C is short for Air Conditioner. It is a device that allows you to control temperature and humidity throughout a building. T.V., short for television, allows you to see and hear various things, like news or entertainment shows, from around the world. As for little doodads, there are plenty of things, the most important one is probably the computer, which allows us to do a lot of things more easily, and allows us to share basically all of our knowledge with each other, instantly, across the entire planet." Ponyhead simply floated there, looking shocked at the knowledge. "Well, you need a computer to access it, but still, it's allowing us to progress at a far better pace than ever before in human history."

"...So, you're like, a hyper advanced society?" Marco took a moment, than nodded slightly. "And you mean to tell me that your species does all of this, without magic?" He nodded a bit quicker this time. "Well, while I can't truly believe that, I will take your word for it at the moment. Please, continue the tour." The tour was, for the most part uneventful, though the idea of the toilet being commonplace through her for a loop. Then, we reached Star's room.

"You are making Princess Star stay in a room so dreary and bland? What sort of civilized people would make royalty stay in such a room?" Star immediately responded, halting Marco's own response before he could even think of one.

"It's not like that Princess Ponyhead, this is my room from Mewni, recreated here magically with my wand."

"Princess Star, a princess must surround herself with what is expected of her. This room feels dark and gloomy. Regardless of how we feel, we must at least create a welcoming, if neutral environment. We must suppress individuality in ourselves for the betterment of others." Joe, who had remained silent since his previous comment noticed an immediate shudder from Star, and a surprised reaction from Marco. As Star began to shake a little, Joe responded.

"That's hardly true Princess Ponyehad." Ponyhead turned her attention to Joe, venom on her tongue ready to be spewed, but Joe was a step ahead and kept going. "Individuality is a powerful tool of all people, in all walks of life, and in all positions. Without individuality, you cannot grow."

"Individuality leads to risk. Risking her people's safety for some change is not worth the risk."

"Risk is equivalent to living. If you aren't willing to take a risk, you cannot grow, you cannot better yourself, you cannot better others, and you certainly cannot live. Just as how you cannot live without risking dying, you cannot move forward without risking failure. If you fail to understand that, then here is another one; which would you drink from, a flowing river, or a stagnant pond?" Ponyhead moved to respond, but Joe cut her off. He was on a roll and even though he could catch himself, he realized that it would be worse to shut up than to keep going. "The answer is the river. Stagnant water allows the growth of less than desirable things. Sure, you can purify it, but at the end of the day, you merely treat the symptoms of the problem, not the problem. We have seen it countless times in human history. At one point we had a group of people who every monarch put great trust in, and those people determined that knowledge that let people to question them was too dangerous, so they destroyed that knowledge. A few decades later, when that knowledge was lost, a great plague swept through the civilized world, killing over a third of the population, peasant and noble alike. If they had not tried to stagnate, people would have lived, and we could have technology far surpassing what we have now. But because someone wanted to convince those in charge that stagnation was good, for their own benefit, the world at large took a blow so massive it took over a century to get back up from the damage done. So, to take this back to the pressing matter, if Star were to abandon her individuality as you suggest she do, than she would be no better than either a puppet on a string, being used by someone else for their agendas, or she would be merely maintaining the status quo, waiting for something to come along and do something that she isn't prepared for, causing the wrong decision to be made. Rulers need to think on their feet, and that is part of 'individuality'. And being even a little unpredictable, is a positive. For the final example, in a battle, it's easy to plan around an enemy who will pick very specific attacks and defenses, wouldn't they?"

Ponyhead just, floated there. Trying to find a hole in his statement. She thought she found one, but she realized that such a thing was already answered. Individuality, was it really so, bad? Was it really- Her thoughts immediately zeroed out, taking a deep breath, the slowly frazzling princess returned to her previous demeanor, a rehearsed answer flowing from her lips.

"Individuality of others is not a concern. The princess's job is to make her kingdom sparkle. Not to make it grow. That is the efforts of the nobility, which the princess is to control when she one day becomes queen, making sure to pick an appropriate king to rule alongside her and give her an appropriate heir, preferably while also making blood ties to powerful allies, ensuring assistance in times of need. Individuality is not needed in any of these matters."

"So a princess is a tool of others? Letting them decide the flow of the world? A princess, and a queen, are the heights of authority. They should seek counsel from others of course, but far be it for them to be puppets on strings. Nothing is easier to control, than a person running purely on logic." The two stared each other down, an unspoken argument raging between them before Joe realized that the conversation was done. He couldn't make any further points right now, and he had just fought with the head for quite a bit of time. He couldn't afford to keep it going, so he decided to defuse the situation, and let it go before he pissed off everyone in the room. Unknown to him, Star was looking at him from the corner of her eye, wonder again filling her being. "But, you do you I guess. Words have less value than experience after all." At this, the conversation was done. The tour wrapped up a little later, and Ponyhead, while doubtful of Joe, was convinced Star would be fine with Marco around. Without any extra hassle, Ponyhead disappeared into a swirling portal, giving a pair of scissors to Star as she did. Joe didn't pay too much attention, rather done with talking or trying to understand anything more that day. As the swirling portal closed though, Joe felt the need to ask a question to Star.

"So, Star, what was up with her?" Joe asked. The question shook Star from her overly proper state and she turned towards him, Marco taking a seat on the living room couch that they found themselves near after the tour.

"Well, you see, um…" Star was clearly nervous, and Joe couldn't bear the sight of her stuttering around, nervous all the while. It felt like looking at a feminine version of himself from back _THEN_. Before he could say a thing, Marco jumped in.

"It's fine if you don't want to Star. We understand not all stories need to be told." He shot a momentary glare at Joe, and a moment later, he was himself confused. Sure Joe had nearly made a mess of things twice today, but he did it from a good place, right? Marco became lost in his own thoughts as he tried to understand what he had just felt as Joe, meanwhile, silently ticked a check mark in his head. He had fully expected it to happen eventually, and honestly, he wasn't impressed. He had a journal at home and he felt like this was going to be an easy middle of the road answer. Star on the other hand…

"Well, i-it's okay. I don't really think it's my business to talk about it either way, but let's just say what happened to us, it was awful." He wasn't really sure how much she was underplaying it. He hadn't seen eyes that dead in a long time, but he also never saw her hate him. She didn't know him long enough he had assumed for the usual, but after everything he said to Ponyehad, her supposed friend, he had expected it to go a bit faster, even if she had a resistance to it. But it didn't matter. So long as he didn't ruin it himself, it would all be fine. At least, for now. However, it was now only a matter of time. And he found himself dreading that day, growing surprisingly attached to Star.

"Suit yourself. We all have our problems, some little, some big, some temporary, some eternal. We will all have some, some will have many. I just hope you don't bottle them up too much. While we may not be the choice you make to talk to, make sure to let it go." She nodded, however, it was obvious, she was bottling whatever it was up. Not that he expected her to share anything if this was real. They only knew each other for a few days. Trust is not that easy to earn. He looked at a clock and sighed. It was getting late for them. He was originally supposed to stay the night in Marco's room, but that would be awkward now. He couldn't afford that. He really wanted to see how long it would take Star to begin the path like Marco had, and making Marco explode quickly would simply speed that along.

"Well, it's getting late guys. Probably best to start hitting the hay. Marco, no offense, but mind if I sleep on the couch? Think it may be a bit weird for me, you know?" Marco, realizing what Joe was referring to simply nodded. Star meanwhile, yawned, signaling a complete end to the night. The three did their nightly routine, and headed to their seperate places to sleep. When they were out of sight, and out of mind, Joe started to think to himself. He couldn't do his usual nightly activities in someone else's home, that would simply be rude. He wasn't tired, he rarely if ever actually felt tired. He couldn't go for a walk, if he did, he may give his hosts a scare. He couldn't read, the Marco's parents might get the wrong idea and he couldn't hide it by pretending to be asleep as it was too dark to read without a light. He could think, but that could be put on a back burner. He tried to think of some more things, but a sound disturbed that.

Looking around, he spied Star, standing at the top of the stairs, in what he assumed was a light blue nightie with a design on it. The little light that hit her made him again remember his thoughts from when he first saw her. She was gorgeous. He quickly pushed them out of his head though, no reason to gawk at a girl he had known for barely a few days. Wouldn't work out anyway. He ripped his eyes away from her and to a nearby clock. It was past 1:30 A.M. Glancing at the door, he noticed that an umbrella was sitting near the door that wasn't there earlier, he must have completely missed the parents returning home. A fact that startled him, until he heard Star coming downstairs. He looked to her, and it seemed she noticed at last that he was awake, growing sheepish immediately.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you, I'll-"

"Don't worry about it Star. I haven't slept. Truth be told, I don't sleep much. Haven't in a long time. You okay?" Star seemed to jerk a bit at his little confession. She clearly hadn't expected it, and Joe was slightly shocked that he had said anything beyond 'it's okay'. She recovered and asked the first thing on her mind.

"You, don't sleep? Um, may I ask, why?"

"Not really. I don't know you well enough." Star seemed almost, sad. She seemed though to bottle that up too, relating it to not knowing her well enough yet. For whatever reason, this made Joe feel like, talking more. He redirected it though, not understanding why, or even what, he wanted to talk about. A quick glance at Star, now that his eyes were focusing a bit better, revealed her to have dark bags under her eyes, with just a bit of make-up trying to cover them. "So, you having trouble sleeping lately, or just sleeping in general too?" She perked up, a momentary grin on her face before it fell.

"General sleeping issues." She sighed. "I, haven't slept good in a long time. Just, thought maybe a glass of water would help tonight. It sometimes does."

"Bad idea." She looked at him quizzically. "Poor sleep with late night drinks leads to accidents." She blushed a bit. "Better to just, start dreaming."

"But, don't you need to sleep to dream though?"

"Nah, not really. At least for me, I will start a scenario in my head if I am not tired and, before I know it, I'm being woken up by an alarm." Star looked at him, interested. She also seemed to have lost a bit of her melancholic state, seeming more, relaxed. Joe found it odd. Usually when that happens, things are already going bad, but the other usual symptoms weren't there yet. Maybe she was skipping a few. Wouldn't be the first time. Best to make a note of it.

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea actually. Maybe, maybe I'll try it. Thank you." She smiled wide, almost engulfing even her heart-shaped cheek marks, and it stunned Joe. He had not expected to be the cause of the first genuine smile he would see from her. She almost looked like she wanted to bound over to him, but instead, quietly made her way back up the stairs she had started down. Stopping only for a moment at the top. "Thanks again Joe, good night." With that, she disappeared, probably reaching her room and falling asleep. Joe merely stayed there for a moment before deciding to go to sleep, just to avoid worrying her in the morning. Just like the first day he had met her, it was a dreamless sleep. Lead by a single thought at the realization of why he was heading to sleep.

_Not again._


	3. Chapter 3: Star VS Joe (1)

It had been one week since the sleepover and Joe had gone deep into avoidance. Whenever he didn't have to be near Star or Marco, he was gone. He was very thankful when he found out Ludo had attacked them again, but hearing how devastated Star was from failing a test hurt him a bit. He knew he had to stay away from them. He couldn't let himself get caught up in other people's problems. Not after last time. Marco and Star however, had different plans.

"Star, he really seems to open up to you. I really think you need to be the one to approach him on this."

"I don't know Marco, it just seems that it's because of our talk that night. It's, the last time we talked." Star was staring at her feet as they walked, Joe having sped along home again.

"Star, relax. I think it's cause of whatever happened in his past. He relates to you heavily, and I think he is just embarrassed at how open he became so quickly. You'd be surprised at the number of foreign exchange students started off the same way. I'll let you go alone. He seems to get even more talkative when it's just you."

"Well, maybe. What will you do though?"

"Oh, that's easy. I will work on protecting Ferguson until the big game. Gotta have our mascot safe for the probable slaughter Friday." Star nodded. Reminding herself that she would need a plan to help the school win this, 'football' game. With that, Marco and Star parted ways, Marco heading home for some supplies, and Star heading to Joe's to talk to him. As she arrived, she noticed that, unlike the Diaz's, Joe's house was very plain. Only grass for a lawn, no special decorations on the outside, and while clean, it looked like the paint was old. She was stock still for a moment, a whisp of a memory conflicting her before she thought of Joe. She wanted to help him and so she pressed onward to his door. She steeled herself then knocked. She heard the sound of clattering and then a shout from Joe.

"Fuck!" He sounded upset. Star,internally chastising herself. She should have not come alone. He was gonna be upset at her for disturbing him when he wanted to be alone. As the scenarios ran through her head, she heard a door latch become undone. She froze as the door opened, revealing Joe, and a bloody hand over his neck.

"Star? What are you-" before he could even finish, Star was upon him. She was sending out a constant stream of words, clearly terrified that he was hurt so bad. Under normal circumstances, or perhaps with other people, Joe would have brushed them aside. Star somehow disarmed him, making him feel comfortable and open. Without being able to stop her, she forced her way in and started to look over the cut.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. W-where's your first aid kit? We need to get you some help. Where are your parents? We-" Joe, finally catching himself, interrupted her.

"Calm down Star. Calm down. First, it's nothing serious. Just a small cut on my neck and hand. Second, it was no one's fault but mine. I saw a knife that wasn't in perfect condition and, while checking it out it broke on me. You knocking on my door had nothing to do with it. Third, first,aid kit is in the kitchen, but I can take care of this. Finally, what are you doing here? Thought you were going to hang out with Marco and help with the football game?"

"Well, I was, but I was worried about you." Joe was skeptical. "Let's get that first aid kit, then we can talk about the rest." She grabbed Joe's hand and dragged him towards where she presumed the kitchen was. Thankfully, though a little different, it was clearly the same design as the Diaz residence. Joe decided to accept his fate, showing Star where the first aid kit was. She thankfully didn't question the large amount of medical supplies, opting to treat his injuries instead. When they were done though, she stared him dead in the eye, a fire seemingly burning behind her sky,blue eyes.

"You have to be more careful! What if you had gotten a deeper cut? It could have killed you!" Joe was taken aback. He had not expected Star to yell at him for getting hurt. Most people enjoyed it. Her eyes did not falter, her soft anger present as she got up into his face. He began to back up, but Star had none of it, grabbing his shoulders and pulling herself to him. "Promise me you'll be more careful." She seemed to realize her situation at that, and grew a little softer still, the anger finally evaporating from her. "Please." Joe looked into her eyes. Genuine affection. He realized immediately that, this girl had a strange power beyond magic. He couldn't describe why, but she had already made a place in his heart. She was his friend.

"I promise Star. I'll be more careful." He decided to just, let it play out. Her momentary smile was reward enough. But just before she could respond, Olivia arrived home early.

"Joe, I'm home. Where are you?" Star felt worry in her voice, she at first thought about him being hurt, but that wasn't until just a moment ago. Before she could think any longer, Joe answered.

"In the kitchen. Star's here too." After a moment, Olivia appeared in the door, looking directly at the two. She immediately spotted the bandages and began looking between the two. "Got hurt accidently when a knife broke. Was going to try and surprise you with dinner later, but uh, guess that isn't happening." He gave her a sheepish smile, and with a nod from Star, Olivia decided it wasn't worth pressing.

"Well, I did bring some burger home. Tell me star, have you had salisbury steak before?" With a shake of her head, Olivia gave a small smile. "Well, then you're in for a treat. I'm gonna make some for us today. That is, if you are able to join us?" She gave Star a hopeful look. While doing so she took notice of their positioning. Star had been next to Joe the entire time, and yet he wasn't pulling away. She hoped this would last. Joe needed it too.

"I, think I can. Let me just let Marco and the Diazs know and we can go for it." With a smile and a nod, Olivia handed Star the house phone, quickly calling Marco to let him know. Apparently he had a plan to protect Ferguson all made up, but he didn't want Star to get involved. Said she should just enjoy herself for a little while. When she hung up though, Star made her feelings known.

"I just want to help Marco." The hurt in her voice was evident. "Hey Joe, what can we do to help for the upcoming battle?" She and Joe had walked back to the living room they had originally entered, leading to an important discussion.

"Battle?"

"You know, this 'Football' game?"

"Well, nothing really. We aren't on the team so we can't really do to much. You could join the cheerleaders or cheer from the stands, but beyond that, nothing really."

"So, it's like cornball and not an actual battle?"

"I have no idea what cornball is, but it's certainly not a battle. While people can be hurt, the goal is only to score points by getting an oddly shaped ball from one side of the field to the other. Only team members and referee's, who make sure the rules are adhered to and that people don't get too badly hurt."

"No traps or weapons, or even armor?"

"No traps period, your only weapon is your skill at the game and your mind, but there is special armor to protect people in the game."

"So, there really isn't anything I can do?" She seemed dejected by this.

"We can easily just cheer for them. Having the mentality that the audience is rooting for you can be a huge confidence booster." Just then, Olivia chimed in from the kitchen.

"Joe used to play at his last school. He was a running back and he was damn good!"

"Sis! *sigh* Look, I played the sport yeah, and having a cheering crowd always helped us rally. I wasn't that good though. If I was, we would have won in the quarter finals for the county." He sat down on his couch, smaller than the Diazs, it was just big enough for two people, and Star decided to take the other side, leaving just a bit of space between the two. Joe was now unable to escape, not wanting to hurt the girl that he finally had to admit, was his friend.

"He's lying. He nearly set a new record for distance ran with the ball!"

"Which doesn't matter when you lose."

"And you only lost cause the enemy linebacker was almost eighteen! SEriously, who let's an eighteen year old play against thirteen year olds?" Olivia began grumbling as it appeared Star was beginning to blow a fuse.

"Sorry about that Star. You probably barely followed that, but essentially, I played for a while at my last school. Didn't end well." Star looked inquisitively at Joe. "Sorry, not going into detail on that one. Just know that I was still on restrictions until a few days ago." She nodded, a slight look of sadness on her countenance.

"I, can respect that. You, you really did go through a lot, didn't you?"

"So did you." She nodded slightly. "In a lot of ways, you're just like me. Someone who has been broken. The pieces never coming together quite right anymore. I think, that may be why I am so open with you. We are the same." She nodded again, but with more force this time.

"I think, I think we need to help each other." She sighed. Clearly this had been on her mind for a while. She spoke softly, afraid Olivia may be listening in. "If we really are the same, then we are probably the only ones able to help each other. And, I think we should. That's what friends do, right?" She smiled, uncertainty evident on her face.

"Yeah, I guess. That's what friends do. So, I guess we should." Her uncertainty disappeared, and her smile grew greatly. "I already know how it will end though."

"Huh?" Her smile disappeared.

_Shit_. "Well, you see, everyone eventually gives up." Nervousness entered her again, she was clearly a little scared that she had already messed up. "It won't be your fault. It's never the person's fault. Always mine. Always… mine." She closed the distance slightly and put her hand on his shoulder. He missed this. A friend having his back, caring for him, keeping him from breaking. A brief moment of calm overcame him, and he decided to accept it. After a moment he and Star decided to just, watch some TV. A comedy was playing. They laughed a bit, simply enjoying the time passing in each others warmth. Olivia at one point wanted to join, but upon seeing the two of them, decided against it. He certainly needed it, and if Queen Moon was right, so did Star.

They passed the time like that, eventually eating dinner. Star stayed after, helping to clean, and enjoying some more time with Joe. Marco was going to be busy for a few days, so they spent the next few days together as well. Joe was surprised each day. Star was changing, she was becoming, more open. More and more often he saw a smile on her face, even just upon seeing him. Just as he had suspected, they had become friends. They had become really good friends. He imagined this was what Star and Marco had before. He tried to remember the last time this happened, and he couldn't. With all the time they spent together, he had expected her to begin the change, but she hadn't. He began to catch himself letting his guard down. He began to become afraid. Both of letting her in, and of letting her go.

Star on the other hand, had no qualms. She wasn't ready to talk still, but she was happy. She got to spend time with her best friends each day, and Joe, who she identified with, was quickly coming around. Even Olivia was surprised. She told Star one night while helping her home, Olivia told her how he had never opened up that quickly. Star took this as a sign that she was doing something right, feeding into her drive to talk to Joe, or at least spend some time with him. Marco occasionally got upset, but he seemed to just get distracted by Ferguson again. Tonight that would end though, it was game night. True to Joe's talk, there was nothing for her to really do, and it sucked. She was too nervous to really cheer.

During the halftime break, Star did disappear for a bit, and when she came back she looked exhausted, and a little hopeful. The third quarter was a massive shift in tone. Suddenly, the Possums were the pushing team, forcing point after point after point. Three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Warriors surrendered, giving the Possums their first win against them in years. Turned out Star used her magic to give the Possums a little boost in strength. None of them would admit it though. They didn't want the win to be taken away. The secret stayed between the team, Star, and later, Marco and Joe. The trio stayed to celebrate a bit before finally heading towards home.

"So, you didn't have any attempts against Ferguson, at all?"

"No, I guess they saw us as such an easy target that it wasn't worth it to even try, Wasted all that time and effort on, nothing." Star patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"It's okay. Joe and I were able to talk and bond during that time." Marco grimaced for just a moment before returning to normal. Confusion crossing his face as he realized what had happened. "It was just as you said, the two of us get along pretty well." A smile crosses Star's face and Marco grimaced again. An even more confused expression crossing his face, and his pace completely stopped. "Is, is something wrong Marco?" Star and Joe stopped. Looks like it was happening to Marco completely now.

"What is going on? Why does that keep happening?" Star looked at him inquisitively, looking back at Joe. Joe silently cursed himself as he decided to put his hand into this one.

"Oh, that's just the curse." Star and Marco snapped to Joe. "The more time I spend with most people, the more they get angry at me. Some end up taking that anger and making hatred, but usually, it's just random spikes of unexplainable anger. Everyone gets it eventually." Star and Marco just, stared at him. "I don't know why it happens, I just refer to it as a curse, but for no particular reason that I know of, it happens. The more time I spend around people, the more it affects them." Star jumped in on that note.

"Is that why you were avoiding us?" Worry covered her expression as she simply looked at him, but it seemed she believed him.

"Yeah, it's been a thing since forever. Wherever I go, it happens. They don't even know why they are doing it, and it just makes it worse for all involved." Marco hopped in on this, not really believing Joe.

"But, wouldn't your sister do things to you then?"

"She's an exception. I think it's cause of her desires and what she really wants." Star and Marco gave him a stare, clearly wanting to hear his theory. "She wants to have a large family, specifically, she wants lots of children. She sees me as one of those children, and I think that love somehow prevents the bursts from being seen. That, or all the distance she gets from me when she spends the night with her latest date resets the timer or something. I really don't know. Until recently she was the closest I have had to an exception."

"Am, am I an exception?" Star asked inquisitively. "I haven't had any episodes I am aware of." She looked worriedly now at Joe.

"Yeah, you're so far an exception, and it's weird. Like I said, I am not sure of why Sis isn't affected, but you, you are in far more contact with me, and you have no familial bond with me. I am really unsure as to why you are still so, friendly, with me." Star entered a deep thought while Marco decided to pick up the conversation.

"So, you're saying this has happened before? Most people just, getting pissed off at you for literally no good reason? And it also has been a thing your entire life so far as you know, and the only exceptions are Olivia and Star? That seems oddly specific. What's so special about your sister and Star that would cause them both to be immune, or at least very resistant to this effect, and why does this effect exist in the first place?" Star seemed to blush at her thoughts, beginning to fidget a bit as she continued to think while keeping an ear on the conversation.

"Well, that's an unknown. I literally only have two people in the entire world that I have met that aren't affected so far as I said. The only other evidence I have, are people with a partial resistance. This gives us currently five total people. Those who are unaffected, Sis and Star, people who are slow to be affected, people who are averagely affected, that's you MArco, you're average." He nods, a little sad that he isn't more resistant to it. " People with a small weakness to it, and of course, people who seem to be affected in literal seconds. Nothing special, but these categories are broad. Everyone not named Star or Olivia in my life have been affected within the first 24 hours of contact. And that specifically counts from being in my presence, talking to me. The less you interact with me, the less you are affected I have seen. Meaning, Star should be about where you are, if not more so since I have spent almost 30 total hours with her so far, and you are at about 24 hours." Joe looked over to Star, her face completely red, and that worried him. He tentatively broke his conversation with Marco and put a hand to Star's head. He figured her reaction would tell him what was going on. Or at least, that was what he later decided was the reason. She immediately jumped back into reality, her blush momentarily worsening.

"Um, uh, what…?" Marco jumped in, worried about Star now.

"You were kinda out of it Star, you okay? You're really red." She stared ahead for a bit before turning away shyly.

"I-I'm fine. Just, thinking about all this." She turned back, her blush mostly under control. "But, that's horrible? People disliking you for no reason? How could you have any friends?" She was beginning to cry a little, Joe believing she was merely holding her tears back earlier. "Is, is this why you-" Joe cut her off, wanting the conversation to end.

"It's why everything has happened, but what happened was certainly far worse than simply people getting upset and yelling. It will escalate from here. It always does. And before you ask, the reset is to avoid being in the same area for weeks to months. It's not something that will be possible." Both Marco and Star looked sad at that, both actually crying as Star grabbed Joe is a crushing, sincere, hug.

"That's just, too sad." She sniffled a bit before continuing. "I promise to be your friend forever, if not your best friend forever!" She held on tight as Marco also joined in the hug. Joe felt touched at this, but worried. The more Marco did stuff like this the worse their relationship was going to be. He found himself returning it anyway. A small warmth spreading through him. But before he could close his eyes and enjoy it, he saw it in Marco's eyes. Hatred. He had been expedited. He seemed to calm down and continue the hug, but it was obviously the end of it already. When they finally went their separate ways, Joe felt saddened. He was really starting to bond with both Star and now Marco, but Marco was getting affected. A vibration caught his attention. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Nothing. He felt it again and after a moment, realized it was that compact mirror. He took it out and answered it.

"Hello?" An image appeared on the mirror in Joe's hand, and his breath hitched for just a moment.

"Hey Joe." _Marco_ "Look, I wanna apologize again. We may not be able to understand or control this, but that doesn't make it right or acceptable. Star and I have come to an agreement. We are gonna find out why this is happening and fix it. You're a good guy Joe, you deserve to be happy."

"Th-thanks Marco." A genuine smile crossed Joe's lips. It was, comforting, to know someone cared enough to apologize. It was the first time. He suspected maybe Star had noticed and said something, but Joe felt that this apology was genuinely from Marco.

"I accept the apology Marco. Thank you, really. You two are probably the best friends I have ever had." A small giggle escaped Joe's mouth with him stopping for a second out of shock. He hadn't done that since-

"I'm glad you think so highly of us. Star will be thrilled. She's already changed for the night and my parents want some distance between us when we start winding down, but I'll let her know in the morning. Take it easy Joe. See you in the morning." With that, Marco hung up. A small amount if agitation working it's way through his final few words. Joe took no offense, Marco clearly didn't want to create a scene after that short, but sweet conversation.

Joe then got home and went to his room. He had very little in his room, a large bed, two pillows, pure blue sheets and comforters, but nothing else, besides a locked trunk with a number wheel for the lock. Joe simply made his way to the trunk, going to the lock, he turned the numbers, 0595. It clicked open and he pulled out a book. There were a few like it, all hand written besides a single blue picture book. He grabbed a green book and began writing in a bookmarked page. A small smile crossing his face as he wrote 7 words he never thought he would write again to start him off.

_My new best friends, Star and Marco._

**Author's Note:**

**So, not used to doing these this way, but still, this isn't my first foray into fanfiction, and might not be the last, but I have a few things I wanted to say.**

**Firstly, I find these chapters, short. Eventually I plan to start straying a bit from the show, and then the story can really start getting longer, but as you can probably tell, it will be a long time until we get that far.**

**Second, I understand the norm is Starco shipping, and trust me, I am a major Starco shipper myself. I got at least two stories in my head for Starco, but I plan to work on this story to completion before I work on other projects.**

**And that's really about it. Enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4: Monster Arm Reds and Blues

A beautiful morning greeted Joe as he walked down the street towards Marco's house. Marco was training for a karate tournament and he and Star had agreed to help cheer him on. The past week Marco was so focused on his tournament, that he had begun to spiral into the recovery part of Joe's predicament. While Joe still had no plans to directly meet with Marco, the mirror apparently not counting against the timer for hating Joe. Star still talked directly to Joe daily, but they had spent more time apart since Marco was mainly her guide, and Joe was merely getting guidance from Marco occasionally. She was still seemingly unaffected, but with Marco's tournament coming up, Joe wanted to at least wish him luck personally. As he approached though, Joe heard a bone chilling scream come from Marco's house.

Joe immediately took off, beelining directly for Marco's room. The front door was unlocked, so he made his way through easily, as he got up the stairs, he heard Star and Marco talking, they were in Star's room. He quickly made his way there.

"Star! Marco! You two okay?" He stopped immediately when he saw what looked like an octopus arm attached to Marco's right shoulder. Star was nearby clutching her wand, and looking downright terrified. Marco was afraid, and panicking. The two of them had barely taken note of Joe being there, but Joe didn't realize that fact, as the obvious was making him forget everything else as well.

"I don't know, this is terrible! I got a monster arm now!"

"I'm so sorry Marco. I read it was a healing spell. I-I'll find the reversal spell and make it a normal arm again." It was as Star turned towards the door that she finally realized someone had shown up. "Oh! Joe. Sorry, bit of an emergency. Give us a second!" Star, sweating profusely and clearly scared out of her mind. As Joe looked back at Marco, he understood why. With Marco's arm a tentacle, she would be costing her best friend much. She rushed back in and slammed down a large book, opening it and flipping through it. "Gotta find it, gotta find it, gotta find it!" She kept flipping page after page, prompting Joe to ask the obvious question.

"Why not see if you can find it from the glo-"

"No! I don't need him!" She looked at Joe, but despite the tone she had, her face was entirely desperate. Joe immediately realized that this was a very scared Star, not an upset or angry Star. He immediately went and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping all her movement as a light blush appeared on her face.

"Calm down Star. I'm not sure what's got you upset, but getting flustered won't help. I have no idea what's going on, but I know you can fix this. Just, calm down, and don't freak out." Star took in a deep breath as he finished talking. Marco, however…

"Don't freak out? Don't freak out! I got a monster arm now!" Marco was absolutely freaking out, and Star was starting to hyperventilate because of his freaking out. Joe, however, was used to tense environments. He kept his cool as he began to talk, realizing that right now, calming down Marco had just become top priority.

"Calm yourself Marco, freaking out isn't going to help you get your arm back to normal. Let Star look at her book and try and fix this."

"Y-"

"Marco! Let Star do her thing. You don't want to stay like that, or have something worse happen, right?" Marco tried to refute, but as he did, he began to see reason again and immediately began to calm down. He started taking deep breaths and as he did, Star too calmed down. "Good. Now Star, what's this book have in it? I haven't seen letters like these before." Star, still calming herself, turned to Joe from the book.

"It's, the family book of spells. It has in it every spell the Butterfly family has ever thought of. It had the spell I used on Marco, so if anything, it will have the spell to fix it too. I just hope I can find it before something else happens.

"Like Marco's tournament?" Both Marco and Star froze at this and Joe realized he had just undone all that work calming them down.

"Oh my God! The tournament! I'm going to have to forfeit!" Marco went into a hard panic as did Star, she was unable to even speak as she simply freaked out, staring down her book with a look that said nothing was getting through to her anymore.

"Calm down guys. Star said there is a way to undo it, all that is needed is to relax and find it. No problem. In fact, Marco, since it appears that your new, arm, seems to be under your control, why don't you take a walk, get some air, and calm down. Star and I will find the spell and prepare for your return." Marco was still flabbergasted, but apparently he thought Joe gave good advice as he took a deep breath, and walked out. Joe hoped he hadn't just undone the progress Marco had made getting back to neutral with him, but with Marco heading out, he turned back to Star, who was getting worse and worse, almost looking like she was on the cusp of passing out. He reached over to put a hand on her shoulder and she flipped her lid, turning around and immediately crying.

"Please, oh please don't send me back there. I'll be good, I promise, just please, PLEASE don't tell mom or send me back there!" She grabbed him by his shirt, falling to her knees as she begged him. He looked at her and began to wonder, genuinely, what had happened to her, and where she had been sent. Joe thought back to his own past, a particular memory from when he was eight played in his head, reminding him of exactly what he wanted back then. He immediately dropped to his own knees, staring into Star's face. Before she could say or do anything, he forced his arms around her, and hugged her. It felt, odd. It's not like Joe was used to hugging, and it isn't like he hadn't done it against his better judgement before either, but this felt different

He couldn't quite place it, but as Star put her hands on him, he expected to be pushed away. It was his aim after all. People feel awkward when someone they barely know hugs them, and it usually snaps them back from wherever they end up while freaking out. However, Star simply seemed to accept it, putting her head on him as she just breathed. Now it was Joe who was actually feeling awkward. While it seemed to be helping Star regardless, and it wasn't their first hug, and beyond the fact that he had initiated this one, he felt no malice, no anger, no begrudging acceptance. She was honestly just soaking up the hug, putting herself together while he sheltered her from whatever it was that had just made her panic so much. He managed to continue the hug, but silently decided not to do so again if he could help it. Hugging a girl might be nice, but not even his sister truly accepted his hugs so easily. After a few minutes, she seemed to have finished putting herself back together.

"Th-thanks Joe. I really needed that." She pulled away, a smile on her face. Joe took note of the tears on her face and the redness of her eyes. He concluded that she must have been silently crying silently. Inside he was a bit relieved, it meant he had concluded correctly. They stood again and, after a moment, Joe spoke up.

"No problem Star. Now then, the current plan is to fix Marco's arm by finding another spell in the book, but how did this all happen to begin with?" Star took another deep breath, Joe noting a small blush disappearing on her face. He concluded the hug must have been a bit too much, pushing their friendship a bit too much. He really needed to make more space, worse come to worst, he had just greatly lowered the time he could eventually spend with her. Sure, she still hadn't shown a reaction, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. She must have been hiding it, her blush must have been a moment of anger. He shelved his plans for now though. If he helped her out, it would make him feel a bit better. Even if he did disappear for a while.

"Well, Marco was practicing in the backyard for the tournament, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz joined me in watching, when suddenly Ludo and his monster army appeared." Joe was suddenly very thankful he didn't head on over early. "During the fight Marco got distracted and one of the monsters broke his arm." Joe squirmed a little at that. "Mrs. Diaz jumped in with some sort of water gun and saved him, but even though the monsters retreated, he still had a broken arm. We started freaking out and his parents just said that we should get him to a doctor to get it patched up. But before we could go, Marco asked if I could use my magic to fix his arm, and therefore allow him to enter the tournament tomorrow. I looked through the book, but Marco was really insistent that we find the spell. I panicked and found, half the spell. The half I found was, the arm into the tentacle." Her face lit up a moment as an idea hit her. "Oh! I just need to find the other half! Oh thank you Joe!" She hugged him, squeezing him tightly. Joe didn't know how to react.

On one hand, she was initiating a hug of thanks, of gratitude, of friendship. On the other, It held no malice. None whatsoever. Joe could only remember one time when that had ever happened before, and it terrified him. Star was strong, powerful, and held a magical wand. She could do so much to him and he couldn't do a damn to truly protect himself. Yet again, Star had only shown to know the same pains he had. He had no idea what she had actually gone through, but whatever it was, it had clearly broken her. Thinking back, this was how he was after he left _that_ place. However, all that may also mean that, should she fall, she would know even better than most how to hurt him. Finally, he decided not to return the hug, only to come back to reality to realize that he was already hugging her back, for several minutes. Star had a small smile on her face, and the instant he realized, he stiffened up. Star was knocked from her own trance-like state. They backed off, both blushing significantly for a moment, then Joe spoke, wanting to move on from his thoughts.

"Well, um, Star, let's find that spell so we can fix up Marco." It took Star a moment to process his words.

"Oh yeah. Right right totally totally yeah." Joe felt that maybe, something was up. Perhaps Star was fighting some of the effect at the time, but even then, that meant she had an insane resistance to him. He could potentially spend months with her. Too bad that would mean potentially years apart before she would be normal around him. "Let's research that spell and try to fix Marco." She seemed to focus up, so Joe decided to leave the rest of his thoughts till later.

They spent the next several hours trying to find the correct spell, finally finding it just before Marco came back. He definitely had calmed down, and all three were thankful as he recommended testing the spell before using it on him directly. It would not have ended well. Joe eventually had to leave, the day finishing up with Marco having to awkwardly explain to his parents what had happened. They were rather okay with it, believing Star would be able to solve the problem herself. It seemed to bolster her confidence quite a bit. She said she would practice the spell until she had it down, and save Marco from having to forfeit the tournament. As Joe got home, he made himself a simple dinner, Olivia spending yet another night with her latest boyfriend. He didn't mind though. While he wasn't a fantastic cook in his own mind, he loved to cook. It was something to enjoy doing, and enjoy eating.

Especially lately. For whatever reason, he felt more, alive lately, and tonight, it gave him a pause. He thought back on the previous few weeks since he met Star and Marco, and realized just how big of an impact they had on him. That was when a thought occurred to him. Perhaps, Star had an ability as well. Some sort of friendship based one. It could counteract his own seeming aura of gradual hatred. At least as far as Star would be concerned. It would also explain her own resistance to him. He had only known one person to be seemingly immune to it, having not been triggered for over two years, and she definitely had such an 'aura' he would call it. As the night ran long, he went to sleep. Putting on his sleeping clothes, an a-shirt and basketball shorts. He went for his twin bed, lied down, and fell asleep.

Only for it to be disturbed by a call. Looking at a clock, it was almost two in the morning. He went for his phone, but that wasn't it. It took him a moment to wake up enough to recognize the ring, it was that mirror. He picked it up, and saw the name calling him. 'Star Butterfly'. He immediately accepted. Star was on the other end, looking positively tired. He concluded she must have been practicing all night, and judging from the damage behind her and the fact that she was still in her dress, she must have still been failing.

"Hey Joe." She waved as best she could. It finally struck Joe how odd this was to receive a phone call from a girl at two in the morning. He decided to just talk to her. What was the worst that could happen.

"Hey Star. You okay?"

"No, not really. Haven't done a single successful cast yet. Probably just gonna skip school tomorrow to make sure I can get the spell down. I just, needed a break. I know it's la-"

"Star, don't worry about that. If you need to talk, I'm here. After all, if I wouldn't talk to you, I would have just not answered, right?" Joe gave her the best reassuring smile he could. He didn't want to admit it, but the reason he answered so quickly was a combination of worry about her, and genuinely liking his talks with her. Especially recently. She had started out rather shy, but she had begun to become excited when talking about Earth stuff. She really enjoyed it, and her eagerness to learn about Earth surprised him. After all, she could be learning a ton about magic, something many people would kill to learn on Earth.

"Thanks Joe. I just need to take a break. I remember Marco saying that sometimes, when you're stuck, taking a break and doing something fun for a bit can help jog the mind or, something. But anyway, I was wondering, how do humans have so many books?" Ah, the joys of books.

"That's a small history lesson. A few centuries ago all books were hand written. A major problem with this of course being that if one mistake is made, it is perpetuated down the line for anyone copying that particular book. This process took a very long time, meaning there were very few books, they could easily be controlled, and next to no one would be able to afford them. Back then, literacy, the ability to read, was rare beyond nobility and the church, which I will have to explain one day, but that is a VERY long story. Anyway, a few centuries ago, someone invented the printing press and movable type. These combined to allow people to begin mass producing pages of information, all perfectly the same, and with relatively little effort. Instead of taking months to make a book, it took a day. Suddenly books were much cheaper and readily available."

"Huh, we don't have anything like that in Mewni. But, if that were the case, I am surprised there aren't even more books around."

"We will get to that a little later in the story. Now, as technology improved, so did the printing press. We went from days, to hours, to minutes to make books, newspapers, magazines, etc. The sheer availability lead to a major shift of the planet. People became more knowledgeable, and thanks to that, more ideas started to pop up. Now, I won't say there wasn't a cost. The feudalistic system of government started to falter as people became smart enough to understand their situation. Most monarchies were abolished, with many slowly losing their power over time till they became mostly figure heads. Back to books, they were about to become outclassed. We invented what we call the internet. All you need is a computer, again, an explanation for another day, and you can access all the knowledge on it. Currently, almost the entirety of human knowledge is available on the internet. Allowing us to globally share all our knowledge in an instant. That is why there are so few books compared to what you think we should have with the printing press. There simply isn't a need for them anymore." Star was staring wide-eyed at him.

"Wow. Humans are so smart. So your saying that the thing in Marco's room has access to more information than even the library at school!?"

"Yup." Star seemed to have stars in her eyes.

"So cool. Are they useful for anything else though?"

"Yeah, you can write with them, make pictures, talk, watch movies, play games, and so much more. Computers are certainly one of the biggest human inventions, period."

"So, is that how humans have survived without magic?"

"It's cause of our brains."

"Your brains?"

"Yeah, our intelligence. We don't have any other strong weapons we are naturally born with, so we started inventing. It's one of two ways we survive."

"What's the others."

"Altruism."

"What's that."

"... The willingness to sacrifice of oneself for the sake of others. In other words, it's basically friendship and love." Star's eyes went wide, a small blush covering her face.

"That's beautiful." She smiled lightly, causing Joe to blush. He loved her smile. It always made him feel bubbly. He loved that feeling. "Well, I better practice that then by going back to practicing this spell. Gotta help my friends out, right?" Joe gave her a small smile.

"That's the spirit." With a smile and a wave, the call ended. Joe thought back on the call, it was short, but fun. He was always having fun lately. It was nice not worrying about his issues, or his 'aura'. He sighed contentedly, ready for the embrace of sleep again, then the phone rang again. He picked it up and suddenly questioned if he should have ever picked up the phone for Star. It simply read, 'Moon Butterfly'. He thought briefly about not answering, but that could be even worse. It's not like he did anything wrong. He decided to just answer the call, and see where it lead.

"Good Evening Joseph." He saw Queen Moon and was immediately divided. On one hand, she had a very neutral face, leaving him wondering exactly how much trouble he was about to be in. On the other, She was in a VERY pleasing outfit, a form-fitting nighty that showed off her immensely sexy body. Though it was not revealing, he found it hard to focus on her face over the rest of her outfit. "And I do apologize for the late call, but I am curious, why is my daughter calling you at this late hour?" She raise an eyebrow at him and Joe immediately felt under pressure. He finally had a reason strong enough to not look at her pleasing form and focus dead on her eyes.

"She was having some trouble falling asleep. She's been worrying a lot and was hoping I was available to just, distract her, from her worries about her magical... training." He looked at Moon quietly hoping beyond hope that she would believe it.

"I see. That's awfully nice of you." Moon smiled kindly, she had bought it. Not that it was really a lie. "While I have you on the phone, I have an important question for you." She took a deep breath. "How is my daughter doing? And I know you understand what I mean." She looked deadly serious at Joe, a combination of worry and determination plastered on her face.

"I do understand exactly what you mean. While I am curious how you know I do understand, I will say that Star seems to be slowly coming out of her shell. She has moments where she seems to fall into some sort of weird state. She becomes overly polite, and, proper would be a good word for it I guess. I suppose all that is from whatever gave her such trauma."

"I was afraid she was still having those moments. From what it sounds like you and Marco are indeed having a positive affect on her, but I suppose it was naive of me to assume that perhaps she would be almost back to normal. Did she ever tell you two what happened?"

"No, and I don't want you to tell me if that is where this is going." She seemed surprised by this.

"Really? I could just, tell you right now."

"You said it yourself, I know the pain. I also know I don't want people giving out details about what I went through without at least talking about it to me." Joe gave Moon a questioning look.

"Olivia didn't elaborate beyond that you had gone through some stuff as well. She even made sure to say that little bit only to me. Star has, or at least had, no idea. I do have a question though. What do you think of Star herself? I mean, even back when she was at her worst, the latest call I have ever seen was still quite a bit earlier than this one was. Don't take this the wrong way, we would genuinely be happy to hear it but, are you two, romantically involved?" Joe stared at Moon, completely shocked. He had barely wrapped his head around the fact that she could be a friend he wouldn't lose. But as a romantic partner? He had never even considered it could happen. Thinking on it, Star was the only girl he knew of where it could work right now, so long as she was actually immune. The very thought through him into an embarrassed blush. It kept deepening as he went to respond.

"We aren't." He barely managed to look back up, seeing a small amount of sadness enter moons eyes.

"Well, that's, fine. I will say this, we have no problem with her dating anyone so long as they don't try and hurt her. And that does include you. Olivia did speak highly of you, and, I hope this doesn't disturb you, she talks about you all the time when I check in on her." With the way the conversation was going, Joe was getting very, very warm. He had liked Star a lot. He had even begun to start conversations with her and even, hug her. Maybe it could happen, but it was still too early. Well, maybe not, Olivia may have been extreme, but it wasn't like he hadn't seen people get together rather quickly. He mentally slapped himself, this wasn't the time to be thinking about that. Especially at two in the morning.

"It's, nice to hear, but I can attest that we don't have anything like that. I'm rather, lost on that front to be honest. Has she told you about my, '**condition**' or anything?" Moon merely shakes her head, but when she stops, concern runs rampant on her face. "You see, I don't know why, or how, but people who spend time around me, they eventually come to have an irrational hatred of me. It starts out minor, they just, jump at me for no reason. An example is someone needed some paper at my last school, I gave them a rather large pack of paper, and they responded by punching me so hard, I got knocked out."

"Oh my. That's terrible. But, certainly he had a reason?"

"He didn't. He didn't have one, and didn't give one. He ended up being expelled from school because he just couldn't figure out why he reacted as such. There are plenty of other instances of it happening, but this was just one of them." Moon simply pondered for a while. She remained silent for several minutes before finally proceeding.

"I see. Well, I can't exactly say I understand, but if that's the case then maybe I can speak to Glossaryck about helping you. It almost sounds like a curse and if so, he might be able to identify and stop it. Either way, I have taken up a lot of your time, and it is getting quite late as well. I do hope things go well Joseph. I know Star isn't the only one who needs help, but I sincerely hope that you two can help each other." Moon gave him a soft smile as she waved goodbye. Joe did the same, continuing even after the call had long ended, his thoughts now turned towards a single person, Star. He tried to shelve the thoughts, but they kept going, stealing away his hours of sleep. Long gone were the days he didn't mind. He had to sleep. He actually looked forward to school. It was there that he came to a startling realization, no one at school hated him yet.

Beyond Marco, no one had even reacted to him yet. He had interacted only with Marco and Star so far, and it seemed that Marco was building a resistance to him. He had never experienced this before. Perhaps, it had to do with Star possessing magic. Maybe the magical princess was brightening up his life, just by being by his side. Maybe, he should try and be with her. A little further thought lead to a single conclusion, '_not yet'_. He fell asleep, a warm feeling flowing through him.

The next morning, Joe convinced Olivia to get him out of school to help Star, who thankfully did decide to skip to practice her spell. Olivia was greatly surprised to hear he wanted to skip school to help someone, and secretly, she was ecstatic that it was to help Star. She pretended it took some convincing, but secretly, she was on board the moment it was about Star. In her own head, Joe was heading for an unofficial date. He was opening up, and that had never happened to such an extent before, it was sweet. True, it may not lead that path, but Olivia was always a hopeless romantic. She would have to talk to Moon about this. Perhaps they could, push, the two of them together…

Joe, clueless that his sister was plotting his future, was in a near jog to get to Star for the day's practice. He had gotten up a little earlier than usual, just to make sure he was there for Star, who he had hoped had gotten some sleep last night. His thoughts ended abruptly when he saw Marco himself. He still had the monster arm, but he seemed to have gotten over the sheer panic he had the previous day. As Joe got closer, Marco waved him down.

"Hey Joe, good news, we don't need to fix my arm anymore!" Joe looked back and forth from Marco to his arm. It had clearly not been fixed. "Oh, don't worry about it. People find it cool and it is a lot stronger than my stupid human arm. With this, I can fight so much better than before. I'll win the tournament, and beat up all the monsters coming after Star. It's just, so awesome!" Marco seemed way too excited. Joe was entirely freaked out by the arm. Joe had his thoughts, but perhaps Star would have an answer. For now though, it was clear that telling Marco otherwise would not have positive results.

"I guess that's cool. I already got today off, so maybe I'll just, hang out with Star."

"Okay then Joe. I'm gonna go be awesome. See you at the tournament tonight, and don't get too caught up in your date."

"We're just friends Marco."

"Friends going out for a fun time is still a date dude. Either way, see ya." As Joe watched Marco get on the bus, he wondered how it had arrived there without him realizing it. As the bus departed, he felt a pair of eyes on him. Looking towards the house, he saw why. Star was staring at him, and he didn't need a good look to realize something was wrong. He had gotten really good at reading body language. A necessary skill when you want to know if someone is going to punch you. She was not doing well. Without a moment more, Joe headed towards the house, Marco's mother, Angie, was there welcoming him in, a worried look on her face.

She was a beautiful woman. The clear example of a loving mother and wife. Honestly, Joe wished she was his mother with how she acted. Olivia was a fine caretaker, but Angie was a badass when it came to her husband or Marco, and lately, even Star.

"Come on in Joe. Hopefully you and Star can help my little man get back to his normal self." Joe took a moment to acknowledge her with a nod, but quickly made his way upstairs. Angie had hoped Marco would be back to normal soon. She and Marco's father, Rafael, had an important art showing that afternoon, so they couldn't be there for him at the tournament. She had to rely on Star and Joe to fix him. She headed back into the house as she decided to trust the kids, and continue going through the exhibits for the night in her head, preparing for any and all questions that may come. Joe quickly reached Star's room, finding her now sitting in her chair, clearly having trouble staying awake.

"You were up all night, weren't you."

"Uh huh."

"And you still haven't got the spell down."

"Nope."

"... You need to get some sleep."

"Nope."

"Being exhausted won't help."

"Eh."

"Star. Please."

"After I get the spell down."

"But-"

"Spellarino."

"... Have you at least had something to eat?"

"Nope."

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Let me see what I can do about that at least." With that, Joe headed downstairs to try and find something that Star could eat real quick. Luckily, Angie is an awesome mom. Just as he hit the floor, she came out of the kitchen with a breakfast burrito in hand.

"Oh, seems we both had the same idea. Mind taking this up to Star?"

"Sure, no problem." He casually took the plate and brought it back up to Star. Little did he know that Angie was a little conflicted. On one hand, Joe was helping Star out quite a bit. On the other, she was slowly hoping that perhaps her son's girl trouble would be ending soon. Then again, he had been talking more to that Jackie girl he was always on about. She couldn't decide who to root for, but thankfully for her, it looked like Marco would at least have a good friend in Star either way. Meanwhile, Joe finally made it back to Star's room.

"Hey Star, here's breakfast." Joe didn't even make it two steps into the room before Star had taken the burrito and started to quickly devour it. He had had them on occasion before, and they were delicious, but clearly Star was very hungry. Perhaps being up so long and casting so many spells gave her a big finished and addressed Joe with a clearly increased amount of enthusiasm.

"Thanks Joe. I really needed that. Oh, you, you did eat earlier, right?" Seeing her go from enthusiastic to sad made Joe's heart flutter. It did not help that he remembered his own thoughts and Moon's words from the previous night.

"Don't worry about it Star. I had breakfast this morning." Star visibly cheered up at this.

"I'm glad. Now, time to get back to practicing!" She pointed her wand at a small cactus. "Returnia Armious Normalino!" It blasted the cactus and after a moment, the cactus exploded. She sighed and tried again, and again, and again. Each time ending in failure. As they approached noon though, Joe had a breakthrough. It wasn't the first time he had seen Star read from the book of spells. And it certainly wasn't the first time she had tried to read something exactly as it was in the book. He had been bored enough to start learning and finally, it would pay off.

"Uh, Star. I got an idea." Star looked at him, she was clearly tired and starting to run completely out of any enthusiasm. "Maybe try the phrase, 'Returnio Armius Normalrino'. It seems that may be the correct pronunciation." She stared at him, prepared a retort, then aimed her wand at another cactus.

"Returnio Armius Normalrino." Though it wasn't with much fervor, the spell was launched, and the cactus turned into- "A hand! I did it! Oh thank you Joe!" She jumped over and hugged Joe, the sign of affection causing Joe to blush maddeningly as he automatically returned the close hug. Star, excited as she was, began jumping for joy after a moment, not giving Joe a chance to recover his thoughts as she carried him around like that before falling onto her bed. After some time, Joe collected his thoughts and prepared to get up, only to hear a few soft breaths from her. Star had blown the last of her energy in her joy and had fallen asleep.

Joe's blush began to spread as he realized his situation. He was alone with a girl, in her room, on her bed, in eachothers arms, in a house that was not his. He immediately went to move her, but as he moved his arms to her shoulders, he could hear her mumbling as she shifted slightly.

"Oh, Joe. Thank you." She continued to mumble, but Joe couldn't process what she was saying. Her face that was normally so bleak, shown through with content bliss. Her body, normally so tense, was relaxed. It was as if a shell had simply disappeared. He again prepared to wake, or at least move her, but realization swept over him.

'_I can't do this. I can't ruin her peaceful sleep just to get myself out of this. That's not what a friend would do.'_ Star's mumbling got a little louder and drew his attention again.

"Please no. I can fix this. I can. Please, don't hurt me. Please." She began to shake and tremble in his arms, and he decided he couldn't leave her. He took his arms and placed them around her again, holding her lightly against himself. She immediately stiffened, causing Joe to say some words he hadn't said in far too many years.

"It's okay. I'm here. I won't let them hurt you. I promise you." Slowly, she began to relax again, a small smile gracing her face.

'_Star, I don't know exactly what you went through, but you aren't alone. You have your parents, Marco and his parents, and now, I guess you got me for sure. I don't know how you do it, but I haven't felt this way in years. This isn't love. At least, not romantic love. But I do know this, I am going to help you. Even if it costs me my friendship with you, I will get you out of that shell. That will be my thanks, my thanks for being my best friend, Star!_' With a smile, and just a bit of content tiredness, Joe fell asleep, wrapped in the arms of his best friend.

A few hours later Joe woke up. He and Star were definitely in a different position. Star was still holding him, but they were completely on her bed, and under her sheets. He shifted slightly in worry, but thankfully, he felt his clothes on him, and he could see the straps of her dress. Another movement confirmed that even if Star woke up right now, it would only be exactly as awkward as it would appear. Luckily for Joe, he was able to get out of her hold, and the bed without waking her. As his mind fully awakened, he remembered how he had been lying with his legs off the bed, but was too afraid to follow the thought and acknowledge that Marco's mother may have just shipped him and Star with the subtlety of the sun. Looking at a clock though-

"Oh my, Star wake up! Marco's tournament is in an hour!" Star slowly began to stir, but seemed to fall back sleep. "Star!"

"Mmmm… Just let me rest here for five more minutes Joe." Joe's face erupted into a blush, and a moment later, Star leapt out of the bed, blushing wildly. "Uhhh…"

"Star! Marco's tournament is about to start! We have to go, now!" Star looked to her side and saw the clock. 5 P.M.

"*Gasp* Oh my goodness! Come on Joe!" Star grabbed Joe's hand and dragged him outside. "Summon Cloudy Charm!" In a poof of magic, a sentient pink cloud formed in front of the pair. Wasting no time, Star jumped onto him.

"Come on Joe!" He tentatively took her hand and a moment later, found them flying through the sky. In a matter of minutes, they were there at the tournament, ready to help Marco before his fight. Looking, they spotted him, he was still warming up, they had a chance! "Marco! We did it! I got the spell down! Now I just need to hit your arm with it and-"

"Nah. I'm good." Star simply stared at him, all traces of emotion gone. "Look, it's cool. Monster Arm is really helping me out. Might even get me a date with Jackie! So, it's okay! We even agreed to not use his power during the tournament, so it won't be cheating. It will actually be a handicap!" His smile was huge, but Star was clearly sad. Her cheek marks turning into white skulls. Joe couldn't believe it.

"Dude, that arm isn't natural! You need to go back to normal. Who knows what will happen in the future, and if you'll retain control. It is sentient after all, what will happen if it changes you?"

"Relax Joe. I got this."

"Final round contestants, please enter the ring. I repeat, Marco and Jeremy to the ring!" Marco merely smiled as he quickly made his way to the ring. Joe looked at the arm. It was wrapping itself around Marco's pants. Perhaps it was listening to him, but Joe had seen enough horror movies to know what happens when you have an unknown entity inside of you. It's one thing to have the arm, but if it was sentient it was a threat to himself and Star. Worse, Star had spent so much time learning the spell to help and now, it was wasted effort. He put a hand on Star's shoulder, but she bolted at the moment of contact, running out of the arena as fast as her legs could go.

Joe, for all his worries, immediately followed after her. Sure, Marco was a big issue, but Star was who mattered to him. Star was the only friend Joe felt he could depend on to always be there. And now, she was running away. He chased her about a block away before she bolted into an alleyway, falling to her knees, and crying. Joe caught up and without thinking pulled her into a deep hug from behind. She cried onto her hands as Joe just tried to be there for her. After a little time, Joe realized this wasn't the time to be the quiet rock.

"Star, we need to go back."

"I *sniff* I don't want to."

"Well, you have to."

"Why."

"Cause he is still your friend. And if you don't you will regret it. Especially if that thing is exactly what I think it is." Star stiffened a bit at that.

"Oh. Oh no. He said he talked to it! It's in his head!" Star jumped up, surprisingly taking Joe with her. She quickly turned around, ripping herself from his grasp. "We have to go back!" Again she took off for the arena. Joe couldn't help but note how she had gone one hundred eighty degrees. He decided now wasn't the time to worry about Star's behaviour and ran to follow. As he entered, he first saw Star looking very worried, and then he saw Marco's arm. It was creating absolute havoc, dragging Marco along as it swiped at everyone, a mouth chuckling as it attempted to grab people. As he approached, Star looked at him, determination pouring from her as she took her wand and got ready.

"Returnio Armius Normalrino!" The spell flew out from her wand, but the arm dodged it, causing an arm to protrude from the wall behind it. With the element of surprise gone, Star focused up and continued to blast out the spell. Each time the arm would dodge. It was too nimble.

"**You'll never be rid of me. I am simply meant to be! Now give up this useless babble. It's time for me to eat some rabble!**" Joe looked on horrified. The only way to stop the arm was to change it, but that would require it to be still. Star was showing her exhaustion, it was too horrible. Then, an idea sparked.

"Marco! Try and force the arm to the ground for just a moment!" Marco looked at Joe puzzled, then looked to the ground. It was covered in hands. Hundreds of them. In a spark of realization, he immediately put his full effort into tearing the arm off it's perch. As they landed, the arms reacted, grabbing onto the arm and Marco. Realizing her chance, Star aimed her wand, calling the spell one last time. The arm reacted, but couldn't dodge, taking the spell full on. As it retracted, it spoke one last time.

"**You will never get rid of me. I am a part of you now. You can cure the symptoms, but never the virus!**" The arm retracted, leaving Marco's normal arm, sitting there, with thankfully nothing out of the ordinary. Sighing in relief, Joe fell to his knees. He was happy this was over, but as he opened his eyes, he came to remember something from day one. His first thoughts. Star was all over Marco. Asking him if he was okay. He was apologizing over and over for his thoughtless actions, and for not taking her help when he could. Neither paid Joe any attention as they hugged.

'_I can't compete with Marco. A normal kid, who no one has to struggle to like. She's my friend. Nothing more. Even if I want her to be, that is all I can ever be for her. For however long that lasts._' Joe couldn't bear to see them like that. He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't lie to himself. He had a crush on Star. And she would never return the feelings. He simply got up, and walked out. He wouldn't hold a grudge against either of them. He may not like it, but life was never fair before. What right did he have to complain about it now?

He walked around for hours, finally returning home. Olivia had been waiting for him. She saw his eyes and knew what he was feeling. She silently wanted to tell him so many things, but knew that from her, it was meaningless. She knew what Joe was going to do. She merely got things ready for the next few days. There was going to be a lot of cleaning to do.


	5. Chapter 5: The Fortuitous Exchange!

Forty-seven days. Star had been on Earth only forty-seven days. And the Diaz's had planned a little surprise party for her. As Joe found out they usually did a small surprise party each day to celebrate Star being in their lives each day. Diaz family tradition apparently. He had been especially invited to this one as Olivia was apparently making plenty of friends in between her job and many, many dates. He waited downstairs with the Diazs, a small party hat on his head. While it was awkward after the monster arm incident a few days ago, Joe decided it was pointless to question it. He did have two good friends after all. Even if one of them was usually a phone call away.

As they heard a sound, they realized Star was on her way downstairs. They quickly made themselves ready, and as she got low enough to be visible, Joe couldn't help but notice again, just how oddly beautiful Star was after getting out of bed. He was brought out of his stupor, as was Star, when the lights suddenly turned on, the Diaz's shouting out their chosen phrase.

"Surprise! Happy forty-seventh day on Earth Star!" Star stumbled for a moment, her eyes quickly darting between the four humans, lingering just a moment on Joe, before a smile took her face.

"Why, thank you guys. I am glad to be here still." Joe felt sad when he noticed that she was acting just like she was back when her friend Ponyhead had visited. Joe began to think about it, Star was only her normal self when they met up, which was always at least an hour after she had actually woken up judging by the current time. Perhaps She and that Ponyhead were in similar circumstances at one point. The sound of a doorbell dragged Joe out of his thoughts.

"I'll get it." Marco moved towards the door, surprising Joe who thought he of all people would want to be near Star. As he reached the door, Joe was surprised to see a new face at the door.

"Hello my american family! It is I, Gustav!" The entire Diaz family immediately erupted in joy.

"Gustav! Our favorite Exchange student!" Joe quickly glanced at Star, he could swear her cheekmarks cracked at the comment. She merely stayed back, holding her cake, as the Diaz's swarmed the door. Joe barely managed to spot the boy who had appeared from the small gaps between them. He was a lanky boy, with blond hair, and wearing a sweater and knitted beanie. He was being swarmed with affection from the Diaz's for quite a bit before he motioned for them to give him a little space.

"It is good to see you guys as well! I am finally here for my yearly, two week stay at your house!" The Diaz's slowly turned towards Star. Clearly, they had forgotten this little arrangement. They glanced between each other and Star before Marco seemed to get an idea. He quickly pulled his parents into a heated whispering discussion. Joe realized what they were going to do. They were going to ask him to take care of Gustav for a while. He sighed and thought about it as Mrs. Diaz approached Joe and Star.

"So, this is a little embarrassing. Gustav is a foreign exchange student that comes over once a year for two weeks to Echo Creek. We agreed in July to take care of him again this year, and totally forgot about it when Star came in." Star remained completely speechless. "Joe, would you mind hosting Star for the next two weeks?" Joe was shocked at this.

"Wait, take care of Star? But, she's settled in here and on top of that I know you have comfortable sleeping bags, as well as the wonderful couch. Clearly there should be-"

"Well, the couch wouldn't be appropriate for more than a single night, and the sleeping bags, while more appropriate, would lead to Marco sharing a room with Gustav, and Marco is, Bi."

"Oh." Joe looked at Star, her expression was completely neutral. "Well, while there isn't a problem of a place for her to stay, that isn't my call. And I am not referring to Olivia. I know for a fact she would happily take Star in. What do you think Star?" Joe looked to Star who seemed to go through a thousand different thoughts. Joe missed most of them, but Mrs. Diaz didn't.

"Well, I'll talk to Star alone for a moment Joe, maybe you should talk with Gustav! He isn't around very often, but he has some wonderful stories!" Joe took the hint, and walked over to the other group of talkers, who had seemingly moved to the living room to talk about some grand adventures. Star and Mrs. Diaz meanwhile, moved into the kitchen to talk. Joe decided to just roll with it. It seemed to make interactions with Star a lot easier. He listened to the advice, but every word out of Gustav's mouth was clearly a fabricated lie. At best, they were hyperbole. Especially about swimming in below freezing water to rescue a polar bear to return it to its' mother. None of it made logical sense. It was about fifteen minutes later when a very red Star, and a very happy Mrs. Diaz came out of the kitchen.

"She accepted Joe, and Moon gave her okay on the matter as well. I'll help her pack. It's only for a little bit, but I know the two of you are good friends, so, just make the best of it like two _good friends_ should." Joe was now the same shade as Star as the implications hit him. Either this woman was messing with both of them, or she was actively trying to make Moon a grandmother. As Mrs. Diaz dragged Star up the stairs, Joe sighed and took out his phone, texting Olivia the situation.

"_Hey sis, Star will be staying with us two weeks apparently. Second exchange student showed up._" A few moments later, she replied, starting a very intense conversation.

"_Already getting your girlfriend to move in? And here I thought I was trying to move fast! :)_"

"_You know that isn't the case._"

"_I already have plans for the next few days. So get her situated in the house. The card is charged with money so make sure to get groceries._" Joe started to put away his phone, but another text stopped him. "_And condoms! I don't want you stealing a march on me!_"

"_Sis!_"

"_What? You have romantic feelings for her, she clearly likes you a bit and you're two teenagers who are going to be alone in a house for several days without any interference. I may be a little odd, but it still wouldn't surprise me if I became an aunt!_" Joe simply closed his phone and ignored the next several text messages as he waited for Star. Somehow, during all of that, Marco, Mr. Diaz, and Gustav were in the kitchen, making meatballs apparently. Joe was very ready to leave, not exactly happy that two people had now tried to imply that he should end up spending the night not just in the same house as Star, but in the same bed. It was, jarring, at best. That was when Mrs. Diaz got Joe's attention.

"Joe? Mind grabbing my husband and coming up here? I think we are going to need help getting her things down."

"O-"

"Coming honey bunch!" Mr. Diaz rushed past Joe and up the stairs, before quickly coming down with a large trunk on his back. With ease he was out the door and running down the street.

"Uh, I should probably catch up. Olivia is out so the front door will be locked."

"O-okay Joe. L-let's g-g-go. To your house… Alone. Good sir." Looking at her, she was still blushing, but also shaking, and clearly trying to hold a proper form. Joe immediately took note that she was immensely nervous. He knew he had to do something, but couldn't think of just what so he nodded and began to lead her out. The walk was short, but quiet. Star used her magic to make her room in Joe's home and got settled in. Mr. Diaz barely waited that long as he began to run back towards the Diaz residence. Star took it hard, she was almost an exact mirror of when Ponyhead had come over originally.

"Okay then. Well, we have the house to ourselves for a while, is there anything you would like to do Star?" Joe mentally punched himself. Here she was, in his house, and the first thing he did was ask what she wanted to do.

"It would be improper of me to do as such Mr. Ackleman." That pierced his heart like a dagger. "I am a guest, and a princess, while it is your duty to entertain, it is my duty to be entertained, regardless." Joe just stood there for a moment. It was clear that right now, Star needed help. Help he was not looking forward to.

"Star, what happened to you?"

"Well, a new exchange stu-"

"No, I mean before, to make you this way." She stayed silent. "I don't expect an answer in detail, or even immediately, but this isn't you. It clearly isn't you, and, I hate seeing you that way."

"It is me."

"And I was always a broken child."

"You weren't?" Joe realized what she was doing, and for once, didn't fight it. If he wanted answers, she would have to get some too.

"Not all the time. Most of the time I was, but people tried to put me back together. Eventually, I decided it wasn't worth it to try and go back. But you aren't in that position."

"And you aren't in mine. Now, it is rude of you to ask such sensitive questions that not even my parents fully know the answer to." Joe wanted to protest, but he couldn't. He would feel the same way. "I am going to my room for a while. Please, let me know when dinner is ready." She bowed and politely went to her room, closing the door and clearly locking it. He felt horrible, but needed to make a few decisions before he did anything drastic. He walked to his own room and lied down, thinking about what she had said. Several hours passed, Star refused lunch, and eventually, Joe came to his conclusion. He had a plan for that night. He was going to tell her a story. He made a dinner, attempting to make it as regal as possible to bring her guard down a bit. She came down for dinner as she had said, and as she did, it was clear she had reapplied her make-up. She had been crying. They sat and ate dinner, but as she finished, she got up from the table.

"And where are you going?"

"Back to my room. It is inappropriate for a young lady to spend company alone with a young man in his house without being in a relationship with strict guidelines."

"Well, around here it is rude to just up and leave the table young lady. Furthermore, I have a story to tell you, and you will be entertained like a proper lady by your host. At least for now, I am your host, not just some 'young man'. So please, take your seat. When I am done, I will tell you a story, and you may do whatever you will for the night afterwards." She went to protest, but seemingly decided against it. Joe had taken notes from Ponyhead and realized that a conflict of proper behaviours boiled down to a priority, and he had guessed correctly that respecting your host out-did keeping away from a young man. As he finished eating, he cleaned his lips off and sat up straight.

"So, what story shall you regale me with tonight Mr. Ackleman?"

"The story of my year, at St. Argute's Asylum for the Traumatized Insane." Star blanked hard at that. She was immediately at full attention.

"Would be a far more easily explained story if we could be there, place became abandoned within hours of my departure. But that's impossible ri-"

"I have dimensional scissors." Joe did his best to keep his emotions level. He did not want to scare her off. The sudden outburst clearly came from her true self, and he was not about to let her try and bury it by pushing.

"Dimensional scissors?"

"Yes, they allow one to create portals to other places and dimensions."

"And they work, how?"

"You cut the air and think of where you want to go."

"Okay then, that sounds perfect." Star immediately stood up.

"I will fetch them then." She quickly made her way to her room, all the while Joe cursed himself. He did not actually want to go there again. Ever. As she returned and handed him her scissors, he noticed a small bit of a tremble in her.

"Alright then, so I ju-" As he cut the air a shimmering portal appeared in front of him. He decided not to question it as he held up a hand to stop Star from entering. "Let me make sure the other side is safe. It has been years since I was there after all." She nodded impatiently. Stepping through the portal was weird, the odd feeling of stepping hundreds of miles at once through him for a loop. He noted he was behind the fence of the facility, and shuddered. Stepping partially through, he motioned to her to follow, and she did, taking his hand to make the journey 'properly'. As she stepped through he felt her hand clench.

The building was a victorian era mansion that had been converted into an asylum. Each window had bars over it, the double doors had a wood finish, yet age had chipped it away, showing the metal plates underneath. The facade was once pure white, but had fallen into grave disrepair. It had a few towers, each one a gothic style architecture with gargoyles around them. Behind the duo, was a stone fence with metal spikes at the top, ending only at a few metal gates. Old warning signs of electrical shocks hung on some of the wall.

"It's, very, um." She seemed to search for words that didn't exist, so Joe stepped in.

"Quaint, formal, depressing?"

"Familiar."

"Huh. That may be bad then, but we are here now. So ahead is the main entryway. I remember my first time seeing it. I admit, I needed a lot of help. A certain event in my life had taken away all my will to live. I tried to kill myself a few times…" Star's grip on Joe's hand tightened as she again paid rapt attention to him, "...and finally, my sister got the support of the state to get me some real help. The first facility I went to recommended me here after my first day. Said it would be a better fit." Joe took in a big breath of air. "They were so welcoming and kind. Olivia was excited that I might finally get some serious, good help. We had the tour, and it all seemed wonderful." He began to lead her forward. As they got to the double doors he pushed them open. To his surprise it sprung open easily, as if he was back in those days again.

The entryway was grand, a double staircase in front, two large desks to either side, the marbled textures all around, with a modern hospital-styled floor. Between the double staircases was a fountain, and for a moment, it looked to Joe just like the day he had first arrived here. Then a flash of red, then a flash of white. Now it looked abandoned, liken and other plants had taken over. Joe was sure there were tons of animals that lived here now. They would have to be careful.

"The first three floors were treatment floors. Rooms for people, therapy, relaxation, stress relief, the whole nine yards. It looked a paradise. There was even a kid being checked out at the time. He looked so happy, so, normal. Olivia was nearly in tears and I felt that maybe, I could be fixed here. Finally feel like, me." Joe didn't realize this, but he was gripping harder and harder on Star's hand. He wasn't hurting her, in fact, she was enraptured by it. His words and tone did not match in the slightest. Where the words could easily have been fond words of a wonderful childhood, the tone was cold, unfeeling… proper. She felt a horrible sting of deja vu.

"Olivia signed some paperwork, and was informed that the first visitation would be in two months. She agreed and we had a heartfelt goodbye. I was taken to a backroom, and that is where we shall head." He started to drag her down a hallway to the right, interlaced between doors were marble pillars, but they did little to beautify anything, especially since she could see what was happening to Joe. He was doing this for her, and it was hurting him. If not for her curiosity, she would have ended this trip immediately.

"You see, the first three floors were filled with children. More than half the rooms though, are actually empty. You see, they only left kids in those rooms if they were already almost entirely done with the treatment. Actual patients however, go somewhere else." He suddenly took her into a room, the door was unlike the others, it had been beaten down, and like the front doors, was a metal door covered in wood. Before them was yet another door, even more oddly, it seemed to be disguised as a wall at one point.

"Within the mansion they had built ways to go down into the very large basement catacombs. That is where kids are really kept. They made sure to disguise all but the elevator entrance, marking it as an employee only storage room. In reality, past the storage room, was the real facility." He pulled her sharply forward, her emotions slowly forcing her back to how she had been before she ended up in Joe's home. While the brick stairwell no longer gave her deja vu, Joe was looking more and more like, her.

"Down here, was hell." As they got to the bottom a metal door was lying on the floor. Clearly something had forced it's way out. Or 'their' way out. "This is where I spent a year of my life, in psychological hell." As they passed the door, she noticed it turned sharply into a hallway, to a large, open courtyard. On the perimeter were cell doors, each containing a toilet, and a bed. This was a prison, and one she wouldn't be able to see in if not for cracks in the ceiling giving light a way down. It was probably why they could go down the stone stairs.

"Do you know a spell to make light?" Star was brought out of her stupor. Joe was cold, emotionless, but not detached. He was almost on autopilot.

"Oh, um, yes."

"Good, then the tour continues." She was again dragged forward ah he spoke again. "To our sides are the homes of all newcomers and otherwise good, but unsolved cases. There is no privacy boys and girls are not separated, and when it came to night time, it would go completely black. You learned to navigate in the dark if you were here very long. Sadly for me, I was here for the initial two months. You didn't get any time to be a kid. You didn't deserve it if you were here. You were forced to go to hours long seminars and videos, telling you how to act and think. It was step one, attempt to reform by passive force. It didn't work on me. It didn't work on most kinds. They knew it wouldn't, but after two months, you got a lot of extra money for each kid that had to stay for longer than two months. They also got a feel of what they would need for a kid. Best part for them, kids were already in worse shape after two months unless they were faking. So it wasn't hard to convince Olivia that I needed more drastic methods. She agreed, and they simply smiled. They told her she could write to me, and I would write back, but for my sake, I should only be seen once in a very long while. They convinced her to give me nine straight months without her presence."

"They loved it as they brought me here. They already had a plan. I was a lost cause to them. Lost causes are fun for them. Free tickets to do what they want." He took a sharp turn and they were met by darkness. Realizing that she was needed, Star pulled out her wand and cast a spell, creating a ball of light to follow them further. "In that door is sound proofing. They loved raping kids in there. Either grabbing a bunch of kids and making them fuck, grabbing a bunch of adults and a kid and having their fun, etcetera. If it's a sexual act, it probably happened in there. I was only in that room once myself, but sadly, they didn't keep it contained to that room. Over there is the bathing room. For most kids you have a time period to go in, but for cases like me, they bring you in with an adult to make sure you don't kill yourself. I did have a record of attempts at that point, so they felt justified."

"Fun fact, the adult I had as my watcher was a registered pedophile."

"Pedophile?"

"Person who likes children, legally means they are adults that want to have sex with underage children." She tightened her grip on his hand, Joe still wasn't looking at her. "He also had some massive issues, he was once a patient and, unfortunately for me, he didn't control himself around me. He grabbed me one day and just, went to town, using the bathwater to try and lube himself, but the damage was being done. When my screaming got annoying he grabbed my head and put it under the water. He had his fun, and I nearly drowned. His punishment was harsh by their standards, I lost bathing privileges for a week." Joe again felt Star's hand tighten its grip. His hand was in pain, but that merely kept him from falling into his memories right then and there. Before they went on to the next room, he spoke again. "He got that punishment four more times before I finally kept quiet enough for the other attendants." He silently pulled her again, down to the next room.

"This room, this was the group reformation room." Star's grip didn't tighten, but Joe could feel a massive shudder from her through it. "This room was where repeat offenders were taken to have defiance beaten out of them. Spiked clubs, whips, bats, pokers, and plenty more instruments of pain are within. There's even a stretching rack and a modified iron maiden in there." For a moment, Joe felt the memories forcing their way in, but as quickly as they came, he felt them leave. He closed his eyes and breathed, but when he opened them, the scenery had changed. It was just like back then now. No damage, no plants, plenty of light, and plenty of people. Without a word, he walked forward to the last room, the door of it partially ajar unlike the rest had been.

"This room, and the room attached to it, were the last resort rooms." He pushed the door opened to reveal a medical facility. "Here they would occasionally perform surgeries on us to teach us lessons. Most of the time, they would just drug you up. Especially if you were getting visited later that day. That way they could control your responses, give them the time to destroy you. Lost causes like me were the easy ones. You would just put in a few aggression or hallucinogenic drugs, and bam, crazy child. Sometimes the doses would be off and the child would die, but they were self policing. It wasn't hard for them to cover their own tracks. The last room, that room, they always brought me to it every two or three days. An experimental subject on what they could do with this one." Again, without a word, he pulled Star through, shaking evident in her hand.

As they walked, he would look at each table. There were only eight tables, but each one held hundreds of faces. Hundreds of kids getting prepped for whatever plan they had for them. He could hear their screams, their agony. He remembered times he was brought here and seen doctors using some unconscious teens as sexual toys. He felt sick, he felt like stopping, but he knew what was about to come. He knew what laid behind that final door. It was where he had his worst moments, it was where he had his greatest triumph. He pushed open the door, again it went surprisingly easy. And he saw himself, sitting in a chair. Strapped down with leather straps, with a metal strap over his head. He was brought back to reality as Star gasped.

"I guess you know what this is then?" He felt her other hand grasp his, and noticed she was shaking like a leaf.

"... Electric chair."

"Yeah. they used solar power to charge some batteries. Then, they would bring me when they had a sufficient charge, and test out shock therapy. Steadily increasing the voltage, testing their machine. For eight months, this was the most prominent place in my memories. It is also the last place I have memories of before... " He contemplated his words carefully. "... before I broke. They hit me with so much electricity, with so much pain, I couldn't keep myself together. I remember it clearly. They turned off the machine, calling an end to the testing. Before they came to get me, they told me they had cancelled my visitation with my sister. I cracked instantly. I started to laugh and laugh and laugh. They told me to stop, but I couldn't. It was all just so funny. That was when they decided to shut me up. Unlike the previous tests, the batteries they had charged were dead now, so they did the logical thing, and activated the connection to the main circuit. It would be difficult to explain the sudden spike in electricity, but I suppose they had a plan. They through the switch and millions of volts of electricity went through my body. I was supposed to die from it, but I didn't. They let it keep going."

"My clothes caught on fire, they kept going. The chair started to break, they kept going. Then, they had to stop. The facility lost all power. It was later determined that the cause was their choice in wiring, but that choice gave me my chance. They came to get me, but I no longer cared. As they got to me and prepared to drag me, I lept at them, using the broken chair to beat them down. They called for backup, but thanks to the power outage, the entire facility was opening up. Including the main cell doors."

"The resulting swarm of mentally unstable kids and teens proved disastrous for the guards. They weren't ready to handle it all, and they certainly couldn't kill them, so they were overwhelmed, and for the most part, killed. I myself probably killed twelve people in this room. I don't know how much time passed when a police officer found me. I had burns all over my body, mainly my chest, and was bleeding from multiple places. I was laughing, just… laughing." Suddenly he felt Star's hand remove itself from his. He prepared to hear her running away, to hear her call him insane, a murderer… a monster. But instead, she tackled him in a bone crushing hug from behind, burying her face into his neck as best as she could. She didn't say anything, and Joe only knew one thing.

"You're just like her."

"*sniff* Huh?"

"You're just like the officer. She did the same thing. She, she stopped me breaking down. I was broken, but I could have been more broken. She simply hugged me, and brought me outside. I was treated, and until I left the area for good, she would check-up on me. Sadly, she died later on in the line of duty, but she gave me something that the you who is here right now has rekindled again. Like her, you give me hope." Star shifted a bit. "I don't know what happened to you, and this isn't everything that happened to me, but people like you, you give me a reason to keep going. I can't say I haven't tried to take my own life since I came here and met you, but you have stopped me. Time and time again I can't do it because it would hurt you. So please, don't let whatever happened to you take away your hope, your personality. If you stop being you, I lose my biggest reason to live. You're my best friend. The only one I can ever say has held that title. So please, please…" Joe felt the tears on his face flowing. "Please, don't let your past dictate who you are. There are plenty of people who are going to be there for you. I will always be there if you need me so please, my best friend, be yourself again." That was it, the breaking point. He again broke in this place, but now, it was out of concern for Star. He had broken down emotionally, and Star did the same, they were both crying. Star was only able to keep one coherent thought in her head.

'_He really is the same as me._' They stayed there for a while, simply crying their hearts out. Eventually, they use the scissors and head back to Joe's house.

"Are you sure you're okay Joe?"

"Yeah Star. It happened when I was eight. I had a lot of time to put myself somewhat back together. I was never whole to begin with, so it wasn't hear to make a shell again."

"I, I'm sorry."

"Star, normally I let it slide, but words are cheap. It's why I don't care when people get angry and yell at me. Words mean nothing. It is actions that mean things. So, I know it won't be easy, but please, you can't let whatever happened win. So promise me here and now, you won't let it win, okay?"

"Okay.' The two stood in the living room, smiling at each other. Slowly they started gravitating towards each other. It was subtle, but time didn't really seem to matter as they got closer. "I also promise, I'll be there for you, if you'll be there for me, okay?" Their hands began to interweave.

"It's a promise, no matter what." Something seemed to click in their minds, they began to lean into each other, but just before they could find out what they were doing, Joe's mirror phone began to ring loudly. For a moment they were paused, and then quickly separated. He quickly answered to find on the other end, King River.

"Oh, hello there King River." He looked over to Star, her face a bright red. As she started to breath in and out, calming herself down.

"Joseph my boy, just River is fine. Are you okay? You look flushed."

"I'm fine River. Just had a good laugh."

"Ah, that would explain the goofy grin as well. Glad to see you're doing alright. I heard my daughter is spending some days with you, and just wanted to check up on her. But, I also wanted to say something personal to you. Can you talk to me in a place that my daughter won't overhear me by accident?" Joe resisted the urge to glance at Star, instead, looking towards his kitchen.

"Yes, there is a small crawl space under the kitchen. It was soundproofed by the previous residents and while it is eroded, it would be difficult to hear anything from above."

:Excellent, call me when you get there. Do check up on my daughter first though. I do want to make sure she is safe." Joe nodded and looked to Star.

"Joe, I'm so-"

"Stop." Star stood stock still. "What were you about to try and apologize for?"

"I, I think I was, trying to kiss you earlier and I know Earth customs are a lot stricter than Mewni's customs, so I wanted to apologize for potentially doing something scand-"

"Stop." Again she stopped, straightening her posture more. "I have no idea what Mewni's standards are, but on Earth, kissing and hugging are not frowned upon at our age. Friends hug all the time, and while kissing is more for couples, I, uh, wouldn't be opposed to it." Joe couldn't keep looking at Star after that. He did not expect her to pull him into a kiss right then and there. He had no idea what to do, but his body did. In a moment, he returned the kiss. It was simple lip-locking, no tongue, just lips on lips, but that was all they wanted, needed. It was, absolutely wonderful. After a moment, they parted, their breath mixing as they stayed close, both blushing lightly. "Guess that's how you feel too, huh?"

"Yeah."

"We can do that again after I talk with your father, but I am not mentioning it to him."

"I'll, see you in a bit then. And Joe, thank you. I'll try to be me again, I don't think it will be hard with you there." She gave him a smile, and after a moment, headed back upstairs. Joe began to think back to the words everyone had been giving him that day. Suddenly, he was worried that Olivia was more on the correct side of things. He was more than ecstatic that this was happening, but he didn't want to rush things. Especially kids. That was Olivia's field. Collecting his thoughts, he headed to the kitchen, pulling up a decently hidden tile, he was quickly opening the small crawl space and entered it, closing it behind him. He pulled a small chain and suddenly had some light. Pulling out the mirror, he directed it to call River, to whom he immediately connected.

"How is she."

"She's doing better and better sir."

"Glad to hear it. Now, Moon wanted to talk to you and Marco about this but she can't right now, she's a bit preoccupied with a few incidents. So, there is a little I need to teach you about Mewni, and why Star is on Earth to begin with, as well as a few things you need to expect in the future. First, why Star is on Earth. Monsters in Mewni have been getting more and more hostile lately. Many years ago, when Moonpie first became queen, she defeated the monster leader, Toffee, in battle, avenging her mother's death. Afterwards she worked with the Magic High Commision to prevent such a thing happening again, and they decided, making peace was better than making war. They decided to begin integrating monsters into Mewni's society and, while it has been slow, it has been working. Until a few months before Star's fourteenth birthday. A group of monsters started to form, declaring us unfit for the land. We are on the precipice of a war no one wants, and with Star's poor control of the wand, it was decided she needed to be away from the kingdom to prevent a war getting sparked by accident. We also hoped a change in scenery would help her, and from what we can tell, it has. For that, we are endlessly grateful."

"Now, unto number two, Mewni societal norms. While on Earth, she will attempt to go by Earth's standards, but there will be point three which will upend that. Back to point two, in Mewni, relationship standards are a bit different. Things like kissing and sex are more, open, in our society." Joe suddenly felt like this was 'the talk'. "To the point where it wouldn't be uncommon for even best friends to have sex on a regular basis." Joe's words began to echo in his head. "Star is a princess and has been raised differently, sex is only for her betrothed, with one, possible exception, which is again, number three."

"That, is mewberty. Star will go through it soon and it is essentially a royal princess's special puberty that brings here closer to adulthood." Joe was now bright red. This could not get worse. "During the transformation, she will seek out a single male, usually the one she is pining for. While this doesn't always end in sex, it might. From what I have heard, that may be you. Now, I know having a girl's father suddenly talking to you about having relationship with his daughter is daunting, I can assure you that as long as you don't break her heart. I won't break you." Joe was now scared. "So, long story short, she goes into mewberty, try and get her somewhere safe, and be prepared for anything. Okay?"

"Y-yes sir."

"Good. Oh, and if you touch her wings, I'll kill you." The phone hung up and Joe just sat there for a while. Finally, he made his way upstairs, but barely remembered he and Star had a little, 'date'. He thought about a few things. This was really new, it wasn't truly fast, but, how far was he willing to go with Star? He liked her, but did he love her? His thoughts turned towards the future, but he remembered something Olivia had told him.

"_If you want to know if you love someone, think about what life would be like without them by your side. I know I don't act that way, but, that is how mom and dad got together._" He shuddered for a moment, but decided to give it a try. Star deserved an honest answer. It didn't take him long. He would be there for her, no matter what. He reached up and knocked on the door. He barely had one knock done when the door flew open. Star practically dragged him inside before shutting the door.

"Okay, we need to talk." Star was breathing heavily. "Look, I know what dad talked to you about." Joe simply stared on. "He talked about my, mewberty." Joe nodded, completely out of his comfort zone, he just decided to let it go. This was Star. "I'm not going through it yet. But, I want to know something important." She took a deep breath. "What are we?"

"You know, I've been asking that same question all day. And to be honest. I don't know what we are right now… "Star slumped a bit. "...but I do know what I want to do." Star straightened up a bit again. "I want to give us a try. I have known you a few months, but it feels like I have known you for years. My thoughts gravitate to you and our little adventures around town. And, I like it. So, what d-" Joe was silenced by a pair of lips. Star was giving him a powerhouse of a kiss. Unlike the one earlier, this was full of movement from Star, and afterwards, from Joe as well. Like that, he was dragged to her bed, forced onto it, but the kiss never evolved. It was simply lips against lips. Suddenly, River's words came to mind. Mewmans are more open about things. Either this was Star coming out of her shell, or this was about to get real heated. That was when Star backed off slightly, just enough to give them both breathing space, their faces still inches apart.

"I want to as well. I want to start this relationship now, to try and see if we go together well, or not. You make me be, me, and I want to see us in the future. As a couple I hope. For now, I want to stay, pure. And during my mewberty, that may end, but for now, please, stay near me." She was grabbing onto Joe's shirt tightly, his only response was to grab her lips in a quick, shallow kiss, as he brought his hand up to her side.

"Sounds like a deal, Star." His soft smile sealed the deal, as she flopped down on top of him, each content to bask in the others warmth, until sleep finally claimed the both of them. The rest of the two weeks went by at a rapid pace. Star and Joe enjoying the beginnings of their relationship, taking small dates around the town when they could. They would see a movie, get dinner, hang out in the park, or just play a few games at home. It honestly felt almost no different besides the kissing. But as the time grew short, Star became reluctant to leave. Even though they had kept quiet about their changing relationship, it seemed everyone was keen on the two being together. Even when Olivia came back home, she was insistent that Joe spend all the time he could with Star, right down to locking them in Joe's room one night. When the day came, Mr. Diaz practically burst through the door to gather up Star's belongings. Thankfully, she had long finished packing when he had arrived. In a matter of moments, Star's stuff was gone, and the guest room was back to normal. As she left, Star said only one sentence.

"See you later, Joe." Normally, the simple goodbye would have been, saddening, and it was until she leaned in and kissed him. It made everything better by miles. Joe wanted to go with Star, but life had funny ways of ruining hopes and dreams sometimes.

"Alright Joe, now that Star is gone, it's time to go see the doctor again." With a grim nod, Joe followed Olivia out. He hoped dearly that they would be able to do something about this soon. He finally had something worth living for after all. Or, someone more specifically.

**A/N**

**Didn't honestly plan to make the relationship start now. Was gonna drama it up, have a little Marco and Joe clash trying to win Star's heart with Joe sort of pulling a Star and trying to help Marco and Star only to end Starco by Marco being a great guy, but then, I realized something. Star does what Star do, and with the revelation's of Star's tapestry being done, and the implications (and all my hopes and dreams that Nefcy will save Starco into reality) I want something to happen gosh darn it!**

**From here the entire story shall begin to shift into partial new stuff. It is time for... 'Them' to start getting involved, and to start working towards an answer as to why Joe has such a terrible time not having friends betray him. Next stop, Star and Joe start dating! Now, let's see he-... oh, right. Sorry ahead of time Joe!**

Joe, sitting in the waiting room at the hospital had a chill go up his spine.

"Joseph Ackleman? We are ready for you in the x-ray room." He got up, and walked with the nurse, hoping beyond hope that he didn't have a premonition just now.


	6. Chapter 6: Short Vacation

Joe was nervous, here he was, in Butterfly Castle, talking to his girlfriend's mother. Normally, this wouldn't actually be so bad. The Queen had actually taken him dating Star in complete stride, actively happy her daughter was forming stronger, and better, relationships. Apparently her last boyfriend did not go over too well despite all hopes. Her father however, was sure to mention to him before leaving on a business trip to not hurt Star or he would meet his ancestors. That was the second most terrifying thing that had happened that day. The first was the Diaz's and Olivia taking a rather unorthodox trip into the 'Forest of Certain Death'. Star and Marco were looking for them and Joe had to distract the Queen, lest she start panicking. The worst part was, Star and Marco had filled him in on these things mere moments ago as they were about to enter some cave.

"So Joe, tell me, what is your favorite thing about my daughter?" Queen Moon smiled. They were sitting in the garden, Joe having convinced her to move to a more, secluded, location for a very important question.

"Um, well, that's hard to say. I like her smile a lot, but her laughter is adorable. Then there's this look she gets when she's content, and another when she's determined. She just, does things to me, and that's what I love about her, she makes me feel, alive. She gives me purpose. I want to see those things a million times over. It, it…" Joe's words failed him, he tried to think of more words to say, to describe his feelings, but, he couldn't. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable, Moon gave him the feeling of being able to talk freely regardless of the situation. It was that there were simply no words good enough for this. At least, none that he knew.

"I understand that feeling exactly. When I was still a young queen, River was my rock, and he quickly gave me purpose and strength. It's a wonderful thing, the ones we love." She had a wistful smile, and for Joe, it made him feel, content. He was on a mission, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself. "I mean, here you are, doing your best to distract me from the fact that your Sister and Marco's parents went into the forest and your girlfriend and her best friend are trying to find them." Joe felt all the color fall out of his body. "Takes a lot of love to try and do that one." Her face was not full of anger, but a playful smirk.

"Uh…"

"No need to worry, I have someone watching out for them, and I know that this wasn't just an attempt to cover for them. You have, other business with me still, yes?"

"... Yes." Joe shifted a bit, the questions he had for her were definitely important. Especially after a certain, incident recently. "All my life there are times when I would wake up after having dreams where I was certain to die. Each time the dreams were so real, they blended reality into them to the point where I genuinely believed for many of them that they were reality. For instance, one dream I had was when I was ten. I was walking home from school and I took a detour to a bridge. I remember jumping off the bridge for a large fall into a swift river. My 'dream' ended there, with me waking up that morning in bed."

"That's, a disturbing dream."

"...There are literally hundreds of dreams like that. Until recently they have been my most common types of dreams. There have been dreams where I slit my throat, hang myself, take various poisons to an excessive degree, and more. There are some that are even worse." Joe felt a hand go to his shoulder, he knew Moon was concerned even without looking at her. "It's okay. Ever since a few days after I met Star, those dreams stopped. Lately, my dreams are very sweet in comparison. Just last night, I had one where Star, Marco and I found a dimension where everything is made of candy." Moon's demeanor shifted a bit, clearly happy to hear that Star was having such a positive effect on another.

"Well, I do know of a dimension like that if you want to take Star on a date there one day when she gets her own dimensional scissors." She winked and Joe felt a small blush pop up on his face.

"I would like that a lot. But, back to my question. You see, I also have days where I just can't fall asleep for whatever reason. I took some sleeping pills, but before they got me down, I found a video on the internet... It was, me… Jumping off a bridge into a swift flowing river." Moon was stock still. She remembered what he had said. "The video itself was a compilation… of me… and several of those 'dreams'... Queen Moon, have you ever… heard of something like this?" He was about to chance a look at her as she grabbed him into a bone-crushing hug. He finally knew where Star got it from as she started to cry.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry Joe." She wept on him, and soon, he too, was weeping. For a few minutes later, they were both recovered from the experience, Moon shutting down Joe each time he tried to speak. "Look, Joe, there are some, stories about this. People seemingly immune to death. People just, surviving the impossible. But such miracles are usually not this common. Once in a generation for the entire timeline is about as common as it is. Death is good at doing her job after all. To survive not once, but several times, that's unheard of. I hope this isn't an omen, though I am glad you made it this far. You and Star, you two will be so much better because of this. Just be aware, you are in a very difficult position. Death wants you, badly, and I don't want you and Star separated prematurely." Joe put a hand over his chest on instinct. Moon finally removed herself from the hug, and Joe almost felt sad she was moving away. She was almost like a mother to him in that moment, but the new knowledge, made him worried. It wasn't everyday you find out you really have been cheating death for years.

"Well, that's a big question answered. Next, is about comparatively old business from your viewpoint." Moon nodded in understanding.

"I have spoken with a few experts. We have some theories, but one of them will have to observe you for a bit. Right now they are monitoring the magic flow on Earth, they think that it might lead to a clue or two. They may have to directly observe you, but I assure you, they will only do so with your permission. Unless it may come to Star's harm. They wouldn't budge on that one." Joe nodded solemnly. He had no real complaints about that point.

"My queen." A knight approached Moon, quickly whispering something in her ear.

"I see, thank you. Joe, let's head back inside. They are on their way back. Let's get some tea ready. Also, Joe. I know you have Star as your girlfriend, and you don't want to worry her, but you can always come to me or Olivia. We will be there for you. I am sure Angie and Raphael would even be there for you. And, as for River, he can help keep you distracted if you want, but I don't really recommend that. He likes to go on rather dangerous hunts and no offense, but you don't look like you're in the greatest of shapes."

"Well, surprise, you are both right and wrong about that."

"What do you-"

"Well I am unsure of how wrong. Waiting on some test results. In the meantime. I really want to catch up with Star. I'm sure she has a crazy adventure to tell me all about that certainly didn't happen." Moon shook her head as she dryly chuckled.

"Well, I will have to hear about some of it from my husband. After all, he was hunting in the area and may have spotted them." She gave a sly grin, just managing to convince Joe that she was content to move on with the conversation. "Still, you did do a good job of using your present circumstances to get me out of their hair for a bit, but I will say when this becomes a diplomatic skill, you will need to make sure that it isn't such a big thing." She gave Joe a wink as they walked up towards the dining hall. Joe quickly fought against his blush, the implications preventing that entirely. "Oh, and the legal age for marriage in Mewni is fifteen." She giggled into her hand, enjoying how Joe was now as red as a tomato. She pushed through the doors, and ceased giggling. Star was her first concern, her entire body was dirty as could be, but she appeared undamaged, the same could be said about Marco, and his parents, but Olivia was nursing a wound to her side. As soon as Joe noticed that he was running forward.

"Sis! What happened?" River turned on a heel, cutting off everyone else from responding.

"It wasn't her fault Joseph! A hydra attacked and-" Moon, in turn, interrupted him.

"A hydra? In the forest? That's not good. River, did you-"

"Yes, I got the infernal beast and treated her wound with an antidote, just in case. Nurses are on the-" River was cut off by several nurses and a doctor rushing into the dining hall.

"She needed to be transported directly to my office My King. She needs proper attention, even if it is 'just a scratch'." The doctor quickly made his way to Olivia, and began his inspection. After a few minutes, he came to a conclusion. "At least you correctly identified the anti-toxin, and as expected from you, the wound was well taken care of. Guess you did make the right call this time. Nurses, bandage the wound. And I recommend you have a doctor watch over you for a time to make sure there are no after effects. The worst should be past though." River and Moon both bowed as the doctor got up and left. Joe however, was not convinced. Something about it felt, staged, yet the wound in front of him, and his trust in Star, caused him to overlook it this time. He merely stayed by her side as he noticed she was not awake at all. She was unconscious. Joe felt enormously scared, as Moon noticed, in just the short few minutes he had been by her side, he was absolutely drenched in sweat. As everyone else looked sullen, Moon kept her eye on Joe.

'_He's been drastic before, he could do something drastic again._' She then noticed him panting and slouching, letting go of Olivia for a moment before he spasmed. This finally caught Star's eye as she watched on. Moon felt a bit safer when Star began to fuss over him, making sure he would be fine. If not for the circumstances, Moon would find it adorable, but now, it drowned her in worry. Star was now hugging him deeply, as Joe slowly, returned it, crying.

A few hours later and everyone had gathered for dinner. Olivia woke up feeling some minor pain, but she, like the doctor said, was otherwise unharmed. The Diaz's apologized profusely for their actions, to which Joe, who had spent some alone time with his sister, did his best to brush it off. Olivia chose to go after all, but everyone promised him something. The Butterfly's promised any medical fees would be taken care of by them, the Diaz's offered their home to Joseph if it became too hard on Olivia while she recovered. To both Joe and Star's chagrin, everyone was in agreement that the two of them could share a room.

It was then that Joe learned a few things about everyone involved. Marco was a pure sunflower who believed people don't have sex till marriage, Mewnians, even queens, are perfectly fine with getting pregnant and giving birth shortly after Mewberty, and the Diaz parents are immense romance saps who were themselves nearly teenage parents. Joe, while he couldn't say that his mind didn't find parts of the idea, enjoyable, was of the mindset that they had barely been dating a few weeks at that point. Rushing a relationship, especially knowing what Olivia does, was not an option. He wanted his first real relationship to be nice, and while it wasn't the first time he didn't want a relationship to end, this was certainly the strongest any relationship he had had before.

He wanted,it to flow naturally, not be forced around by everyone close to them. The thought stuck around as he realized, it didn't make any sense. In fact, it was really weird. Until he had started thinking about a relationship with Star, people were less than interested, but almost like the hatred thing, except instead of hatred, it was a relationship with Star. And to be honest, it scared him. Yet another question that needed answering. He thought long and hard about it before just accepting it. Then, as expected from his theory, Olivia asked the Diaz's to allow Joe over, something they and Star accepted. She magicked him up a bed, and soon, life was on its way. It was a week before Olivia felt better, and just in time for Brittney to have a birthday party. s expected, Joe wasn't invited.

Star went with Marco and again, the monsters attacked. Jie was. Very thankful he wasn't around these. He doubted he would survive even a moment during such an event, but,more than that, Star was okay, and Marco had talked to his crush of many years. It seemed for once, everything came up Joe. Joe didn't sleep well that night. Something yelled at him that something was bound to happen. He didn't realize that he was right.

*In an unknown location*

"This is not how things should be going. Star should have her crush on Marco by this point. Yet, she seems to think highly of the anomaly."

"Calm down sister. You and I both know that a change is good for keeping timelines healthy. After all, this isn't the-"

"I know Glossaryk. However, that does not excuse the anomaly. He was not our creation. He must be removed from the equation."

"No. Let us see how he changes things. We have an eternity to get this right after all."

"... I pray you are right. I will report your decision to the council Glossaryck. For now, I at least still trust you."

"And I, trust in something I can't feel either." Glossaryck laughed in the void, hoping that this would shake up events just right. After all, now there were three things he couldn't control directly in play. Perhaps, he should mess with two of them. Just for fun. _'Who knows, maybe both of then will enjoy letting off some steam_.' The thought brought on another laugh as, once again, he laughed, before disappearing in a puff of light.

**A/N**

**Well, time for the big shift. I am sorry the chapter is so short, but it felt like there really wasn't too much I wanted to do here that really should be in the next chapter. So, here is a short setup chapter for everyone's first big Starco miss from the show. What will Mewberty Star do? Will she:**

**A.) Rape Joe**

**B.) Have Consensual Sex with Joe**

**C.) There's gonna be no sex, thanks Glossaryck**

**D.) She ain't gonna pick Joe**

**E.) We gonna get Glossarycked**


	7. Chapter 7: Mewberty

Joe watched the sunrise. He just felt, uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the environment. Stone walls always gave him a bit of the creeps. Perhaps it was the large amount of furniture, made it difficult to not look at anything. Or perhaps, it was the blond girl asleep not fifteen feet away, without a care in the world. He tore himself away from the sunrise to look at her. Olivia was using her condition to try and get Joe and Star even closer, and Joe had to admit, he didn't exactly mind it. Sure it was awkward to share a room with his girlfriend, but at least there was a second bed on another floor of her tower. As his thoughts again turned towards her, he remembered a few things about himself. He had hidden his problems well, but the doctor was overly formal and direct during their last check-up. He had ordered even more tests, and it scared Joe. It was why Olivia had really pretended her injury was messing with her. But even that hadn't kept him up. Something about today seemed, different. Even if he tried, his thoughts always drifted to Star.

She was a common subject of thought in his mind, it's hard not to think about those important to you, especially when you first start dating them, but this was, unnatural. It had been a week since they had come back and until three a.m. that morning, everything was normal. Now though, he wanted nothing more than to hop in her bed and kiss her. Undress her. Claim her. And it drove him mad. He wanted their first time to be a moment of passion, to be a teenager's mistake. Star had shown no sexual interest up to this point, and he assumed that it would stay the same for a while longer. He suspected that like he, she wasn't unfamiliar with sex, and the damage it could cause. He wouldn't be that person. When she began to finally stir and drive him back fully to reality, he realized he was practically on top of her, just, watching her sleep. This terrified him. How did he miss that? He backed off as quickly and silently as he could, and stared back at the sunrise.

"A princess should be early to rise to greet and prepare for the day. A princess must be on time for all events. A prin-" She finally shook herself out of her mantra. She always woke up that way, and it pained Joe that she couldn't break the habit, though she was getting better. Now she acted less prim and proper and more, like a young girl..

"Morning Star." Joe had considered trying to make a joke, but he didn't trust himself to make a good one. Instead, he wanted to be the loving boyfriend who greeted her the moment she awoke..

"Morning Joe. I could use a cup of you to get going right now, heh." Star, had no such reservations. Joe chuckled and made his way back over towards her, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. She lightly moaned, and that threw Joe for a loop. She always giggled, but never moaned. As he took in Star's face, she seemed to get just as confused.

"Weird, that always wakes me up, but, it doesn't normally feel THAT good. That was like, wow. Um Joe? Do you, uh, mind if we do that again?" She blushed intensely as she asked.

"I don't know." He gave her a sly grin, and she grinned back. He slowly did the kiss again, but this time, he lingered. He tried to pull back, but he couldn't. He wanted to, but also didn't want to. Suddenly he felt her moan again, and then their lips parted. He felt warm suddenly, very warm. A warm he had always managed to suppress while in his girlfriend's presence before. He felt, scared. This was entirely new to be unable to stop it, and as the kiss evolved, his tongue felt under house arrest, and the house was Star's mouth. They were openly moaning as the kiss became deeper and deeper, more passionate, and then, more primal. She started to move back and he was following her, but as her back hit the bed, she suddenly pushed joe lightly that broke the kiss and they laid panting. After turning a new shade of red, Joe rushed off of her, stumbling out apologies as he did his best to hide 'himself' from her. She, for her part, was confused. She had never kissed anyone like that before.

"Joe?" Said boy stopped his bumbling immediately, his mind coming back to him as he finally started to relax.

"...Yes Star?"

"... That was new."

"... Yes, it was."

"...I liked it."

"... So did I."

"... Jo-" Star was cut off as her alarm blared. It was time to get ready for school. The two felt relieved, but of what, who knew. Neither one had ever felt the rush, even when the occasional accidents occurred in their times sharing a house and room, it was always more startling, whereas this time, they both wanted nothing more than to tear into each other with abandon. Star turned off the alarm as Joe made his way outside, he always slept in pajamas and while Star and Marco had a system to get ready for the day, Joe's was rather, peculiar. He liked to do some exercises first thing after waking up. It was endless teasing as his hosts assumed he was doing it for Star when really he had been doing it for years at this point. Ever since he got out of that horrible, horrible asylum.

He had recently truncated his routine as normally he woke up quite a bit earlier, a combination of not wanting to wake Star, and certainly not wanting to make her room stink of sweat so early in the morning had really led to him being more, quiet. Normally he did one hundred push-ups, sit-ups, squats, followed by a 10km run. Now he was at a tenth of normal just enough to wake up, and feel like he at least didn't slack off completely. As he finished his run and re-entered the house, he noticed breakfast had just been served. A good surprise. He stopped to eat sitting next to Star who for some reason was, sniffing the air a lot. He was about to ask if he smelled bad when she shivered with a moan, causing both of them to blush as the rest of the table giggled like school girls. He excused himself and quickly entered the shower, eager to end the awkwardness of the day as soon as possible. Ten minutes later and he had finished, He was getting dressed, but felt something was, off. As he turned he swore he could see the door closing. Was Star, spying on him? Before he could even think further on it, Mrs. Diaz called from downstairs, reminding him that it was time to go to school. Suddenly remembering his situation he quickly got dressed. As he was leaving though, he began to remember that perhaps, this was Marco being affected by his hatred aura again.

He stopped cold as the door was open. He had forgotten it, the aura of people hating him. He hadn't even noticed it recently, but what if that was masked by the lens of his new feelings for Star. What if everyone was affected and the absolute joy of Star getting better was making them mask the effects for now. The thoughts began to pile up and his blood began to run cold. What if it was all temporary. He got shaken out of his thoughts as he felt a pair of lips on his. He sighed into the kiss, already knowing who it was. It washed away his worry in an instant. As she pulled away and he took a breath, he opened his eyes. Star was staring right at him, full of love and concern. It made him smile.

"Sorry about that, got a little, lost there." Star smiled back at him.

"I'll be there to find you whenever you get lost. Cause if we are getting lost it's together!" They both giggled at her little joke as she pulled him down the stairs and out the door. He was glad things were back to normal, at least, until the bus ride to school. Star had taken to sitting next to Joe since they had started, but she had never done this before. She was sitting with Joe, on his lap, facing him, giggling at him. The entire bus was staring the two of them down, even Marco was. It was really awkward for them especially. No one knew they were dating, everyone knew they were touchy about distance, and for whatever reason, Star had sat down in that position without a thought.

"Never pegged her for a slut." A single voice called out. A cheerleader who had recently been riding the bus. If Joe remembered right.

"Says the girl who lost her car after her dad found her with six guys at a party she wasn't supposed to be at." One of the guys said. The bus soon erupted in debate as Star finally pulled herself off of Joe and sat closely beside him, whispering while trying not to lose it.

"Sorry Joe, I really don't know what happened there at all. I'm not like this, I swear!"

"It's okay Star. We just need to figure out what's going on. It seems, weird that this is happening out of the blue like this. Maybe we should talk to someone about this?" Star nodded in agreement as the bus arrived at school. They had barely made it through the front door than Star had taken Joe's arm and was holding it in a bear hug. She was looking around and around until finally, Marco pulled the two of them aside I to an empty paint room.

"Okay, what's going on here? You have never acted this way before Star."

"I don't know Marco. I just feel, weird. I feel powerful and confident, but also weird and weak. It's frustrating and I can't get Joe off my mind! He's, intoxicating to me today!" Suddenly, a small pop was heard. Star ignored it, and was about to press onward as Marco interrupted.

"Star. It looks like you got some, paint, on your forehead." Slowly, Star reached up and tapped her forehead. Something clung to her finger. She pulled her hand down and observed the object. A single, purple, heart.

"Oh no. I'm going through mewberty!" Joe immediately went into shock. Moon and River had given him a tall about mewberty, and he immediately knew he had to stay away, and so did Marco.

"Oh, no big deal then. We go through something similar here on Earth." Joe had pulled out his mirror phone and had quickly dialed Moon, but the screen showed that service was currently down for yearly maintenance and wouldn't be back up for hours. He quickly reached for his cell phone, hoping he could contact either Mrs. Diaz, or Olivia.

"This isn't like one of your Earth things Marco! I'm from Mewni! This is gonna get weird."

"How weird? We talking-"

"Destroy the school level weird." Marco immediately went into safety mode, coming up with a plan as Joe put his phone away.

"Bad news, the Diaz residence has no phones right now, and neither Mrs. Diaz nor my sister are answering their phones. We need to get her away from boys, right now." Marco nodded as Star started to drape herself over Joe.

"But your a boyyyyy~." Her smile grew big and strange as she said boy. Joe immediately gripping her shoulders. She started to close the distance as she slapped herself, hard. "Okay, I need to stay away from boys, including the two of you." The three nodded and, having fewer options, decided Star staying put was the best option. Before they left, Star came up with a plan.

"Oh! Glossaryck might be able to help us! He's a magical being who lives in my book of spells. It's in my room on my table, Joe, go get it, at least we will have some distance. Marco can get you an excuse and we can try and contain this!" They all agreed and Joe began to sprint towards the Diaz residence. "And Marco, if I get a hold of Joe, I don't know what will happen. Please, don't let me hurt him." with and understanding nod, Marco took off, the door closing behind him. Star looked at her hand as more hearts appeared. She began to worry and cry as she tried to think about girls, and warnicorns. Praying Glossaryck would do the right thing.

Joe made it to the Diaz residence in good time. Only twenty minutes had gone by and that included only one stop for pain. He walked up to the door, and soon realized the Diazs were not home. He looked everywhere for a way in, but to no avail. Until he remembered the tower. Star's room probably didn't have any locks. So he began to climb. He silently hoped that the neighborhood wasn't watching as he made his way up the wall. It took a while, but he made it. He slumped to the floor, breath heavy as he tried to recover from the arduous task. He felt at his neck with two fingers.

'_Heart rate seems consistent. Thank God._' After a moment's rest he began looking around the room, sure enough a large book was right where Star said it would be. Approaching it, he watched as the book floated up, then opened. Inside was a blue man with an elongated head embedded with a red gem. He wore yellow robes and within his diamond shaped eyes, wisdom, and boredom in equal measure.

"Greetings Joe. How's it going?" Joe stared wide eyed at the little man. "Oh, guess i should introduce and explain myself. I am Glossaryck of Terms. I am the head of the Magic High Commision, tutor to princesses, and for you, an enigma. I know who you are from hearing you and Star all the time, as well as some classic spying. But it is rather convenient you happen to come to me when I was going to bring you to me. So tell me kid, what's up?" For a full minute Joe remained silent. Everything Glossaryck had said just, scared him.

"Uh, right. Star's going through mewberty and-"

"Say no more. I know what to do, and we have plenty of time to do it. And the answer, is simple, you either give her exactly what she wants, or you wait it out. Either way she goes back to normal." Joe stood speechless. Star wasn't in her right mind, and judging from her previous actions, he figured what she wanted.

"Hmmm. Most guys get excited or flustered when they hear a beautiful woman is literally going to throw herself at them. Tell me, why are you so scared?"

"... I've been raped before. So has Star. I'm scared it will, be like that." Glossaryck looked at the boy with complete understanding.

"I can understand then. It's two things isn't it?" Joe nodded. "It's your fear of the two of you being raped and feeling horrible because of this, and your fear over that lovely aura you exude." He gave a shit eating grin as Joe turned.

"I've never-"

"Moon told me. Not that she needed to. I can see the magic you wrap yourself in. Very rare for a human to have any connection to magic. I'm looking into is as we speak." His grin never faltered as he left Joe grasping for a coherent thought. "Now, unless you have a question, I'm going back to bed."

"... Is it because od the aura?"

"Gonna have to be more specific than that kiddo."

"Does she, love me-"

"To relax you, no. You can't make anything happen like that. She's immune to your 'aura'. Also, don't get used to straight answers kid, I'm fresh out."

"... Okay then. Is there anything we can do to speed up this, mewberty thing?"

"Like i said kid, no. You see, life is like a runaway port-I-potty. It's hot, fast and full of shit. You gotta let this happen. Or run, but your out of time for that. Time for this guy to get out of the splash zone." Without a further word, the book closed and floated out of the room. Joe stared quizzically for a moment before a buzzing sound from the window he entered from pulled his attention away. He spotted a human sized, purple insect. He started getting scared as he backed up. The creature had purple skin and hearts for eyes, two antennae on its head, six total arms, and wore a purple dress. It looked at him, and smiled creepily.

"Joooooooe~. I fooooound yoooooooooou~." The grin was menacing and for a moment, Joe planned to run, but then he remembered that voice, suddenly an image flashed over the creature that was now approaching.

"Star?" She smiled widely, pleased as his anxiety dropped just a bit. He slowly started to move towards the door as he continued to speak. "Look, I can guess what this is about but-" she fired a string of goo out of one of her hands, latching onto the door. In a moment she closed the door, shooting more webbing, keeping him trapped.

"You're not going anywhere, Joe~." He was now terrified. He considered his options before a pain struck his chest, sending him to his knees. He grasped at his chest, the pain was massive. He saw a shadow approach him. He was afraid, another jolt of pain, this was horrible. He was scared, terrified, and potentially dying. Then, he felt the pain wash away. He looked up, Star was petting him. She had him in her lap, just, comforting him. Everything started to melt away under those eyes and hands. He felt, amazing, full of energy and life. As if he could take on the world and win.

"Joooooeeeee~." It sounded no different than the previous time, but, he could feel the question asked in his very soul.

"I'm fine now Star, thank you. That was, terrifying."

"Boy."

"No, no i don't think it will be back for a bit."

"Joe."

"Yes, we will, talk about it. How are you?" Star smiled creepily, her eyes and cheek marks glowing a little.

"Joe~."

"I, sort of figured. Can, can we at least-" Before he could even finish, Star flew him quickly to her bed, taking his hands, she quickly pinned them behind his back, gluing them together. Her smile growing ever so slightly.

"Boyyyyyy~." She practically sang at him.

"Just please, don't hurt me." She finally stopped smiling. She grabbed his face with two arms, and kissed him, in that instant, a hundred conversations happened simultaneously in his head. A thousand voices talking in dissonance. It seemed like forever when she pulled back, and suddenly, he knew. His Star could stop this. It could be just a sloppy make out session. He could avoid hurting her, but she wanted it. Badly. He didn't want to deny her. Clearly, neither of them was in their right mind.

"... Is this what Star wants?."

"Boy."

"I want to hear it from my Star."

"Boy!"

"I will not take advantage of her. I won't join the list of people that have raped her, and neither will you be on mine. I won't stop you, I know i can't. But-" tears started down Joe's face, "I'll do it if she asks me to. I won't rape her." The girl stopped, for a moment, it almost seemed like she may stop.

"Please." That single word was in Star's voice. It was her. Without a further thought Joe leaned up as much as he could, ensnaring her lips with his. In an instant she returned the kiss ten fold. Their lips taking all of their attention as he was forced deep into the bed. Her hands immediately began to disrobe him, his shirt ripping to pieces to reveal his, strange undershirt. Star broke off the kiss to look at it.

In all the times they had shared together, he had always kept a shirt on, and she had never seen beneath it until now. She was very, very confused. Before her was an undershirt, a big, black, oddly bulky undershirt. She reached onto it to rip ot off when Joe quickly spoke up.

"Please don't rip it off. Straps are on my right, just, please. She acquiesced, likely wanting to keep him as willing as possible. As she did, she noticed that the undershirt was what had given him such an odd shape, and kept perhaps her new favorite thing hidden from her.

"Aaaaaaaabbbbbbsssssss~!" Absolutely delighted she ran four of her hands over his abs as she began to mess with her chest with the remaining two. Joe had to admit he wasn't ready for her to see him like this, but he was happy she found his body attractive. As she moved her hands, she began to follow some light discolorations in his skin. Long lines that were barely detectable by sight or touch. She knew what they were instantly. Scars. Alongside them, and in some of them, were wires. She looked at him quizzically.

"Part of the later talk. I promise. I would disconnect the wires, but sort of, tied up at the moment. You can-" She immediately dragged his hands out of their,binds and placed them in front of him. He paused for a moment before realizing she wanted him to do what he could to the wires. He deftly detached as many as he could, leaving a few pieces sticking out of his body where the shirt wires connected to his body wires. She immediately gunked them up, Joe hoping there would be no,permanent damage. He Then steeled himself for what would come next. "And now, you want me, right?" She responded with a large, toothy grin.

"Boy~." She began running her hands over his chest again. She was enjoying herself as she bound his hands again, though this time, she left them stuck in front of him. He had hoped she wouldn't that this could be the two of them but it seems her mewberty had an idea of its own. Slowly, her arms tasks became obvious. One arm was caressing his cheek, one was caressing her breasts, two were over his chest, and the last went towards his pants, slowly working them apart, then down. Left in his underwear, Joe finally felt the full implications of what was about to happen. He felt his heart rate skyrocket, and he became afraid. Star seemed to see this, and stopped her two chest-arms over his heart. "Safe." In an instant he felt much calmer. His heart was still racing, but he felt, just as Star said, safe. He looked at her in awe and wonder. For the first time, a gentle, loving smile took her face, just before her lips took his.

Joe didn't fight it, but did his best to hook his arms behind her head to make the kiss deeper. She clearly approved as now two arms were behind his neck, two were on his chest, and the remainder were teasing him, gliding around is pelvis, never quite making contact. She moaned into the kiss, and Joe, feeling warmer and warmer, moaned in response. The two were making such a racket, if either had a sense of worry, they would have had concern over Marco finding them, or hearing them at least, but they did not care. Right now, all that mattered, was this kiss, this passion.

Then she touched him. He inhaled sharply, breaking the kiss as Star moved down slightly, now kissing his neck. He was sure she would leave a mark, and did not care in the slightest. Hr hands were rubbing him through his boxers, and he loved it. Four of her hands were working him while the remainder were all over his abs, her giggling signaling her approval of his body. Joe meanwhile had lost all rational thoughts, and finally lost control, bucking his hips towards Star's hands. She hummed in delight as her hands retreated to his waistband. For a moment she stopped and looked at him. He looked back and realised, this was not senseless lust that was in control. Sure her body was altered, but it was still Star at the helm ultimately. He smiled at her, and nodded. Her smile grew once again into the now familiar toothy grin. He fully expected her to continue as she had and calmly take off his shorts. Instead, she dissolved them. He was fully surprised, but so was Star. His nerves spiked as she looked at him, then they melted as her grin grew.

"Biiiiiig~!" He felt a welling of pride at that, and shortly after, an intense pleasure. She switched back to four hands at his pride and two at his chest. She was massaging his balls, shaft, legs, and pelvis, driving him absolutely wild. She seemed to know exactly how to squeeze when to squeeze, and how to vocalize her satisfaction with him in all the right ways. Somehow, he felt no closer to the end than when they had began, but he knew that stopping now was beyond impossible. That was when she stopped. He groaned in annoyance, and as he felt her weight disappear, he looked up at her, almost hurt, until her dress landed right on his face. He sniffed and melted into it, she smelled divine! But he had to be strong! He carefully began to remove the garment, to have something far more frilly hit his face.

The smell it carried left no time for his eyes to identify the garment as he inhaled strongly. It drove him wild, and he felt himself jump. She giggled as the garment fell from his face. Now he saw her, in all her glory. Sure her breasts weren't the size of watermelons, and her curves weren't quite in full swing yet, but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He could not help but stare at her as she giggled again, lying down on top of him. Now her face was just below his, and he could feel her body pressing directly on his. He tried hard to kiss her, but she remained just out of reach. He felt disheartened until she brought her hands over to him, caressing him, signaling her love to him. Every step of the way, the lust gave way to love, only to allow lust control when love had its moment. He loved it. She loved it.

Then he felt her. It was the first time he had felt this sensation before. Moist, and right on his tip. He looked at her, she smiled gently then toothily, then suddenly, she moved. In an instant almost his entire shaft was warm, wet, and being manhandled by her folds. It was as if her body knew exactly what it wanted, and at this rate, with all the teasing, she was going to get it quickly. She bucked her hips a few times, loud moans flowing from her. She had worked herself into a frenzy and her own limit was approaching. It wasn't long before her body tightened on him, a large moaning erupting from her. Suddenly, her cheek marks and eyes glowed pink, and he felt it. He felt her pleasure. He erupted inside of her on the spot. Her moan was cut off as she was forced to inhale. From what he could tell, she had just came again, and as she glowed again, he felt it and suddenly, while softening, he erupted again, his shaft hardening once again.

The process continued a few times before finally, he reached a physical limit. Five total times. The afterglows came as one, and he was sure he was shooting a blank as the world grew distant. He could see a sea of purple, then darkness. As he fell asleep, he heard the a few last words..

"Joe~, love~."

"Oh no no no no no." Joe awoke to the sound of Star, clearly distraught and scared. The light from her balcony showed it was still daytime, probably the same day. She was still in the bed, but she had turned away, from her posture, Joe knew she was either about to cry, or crying.

"Star?" She stiffened, and with a deep sadness in her body, spoke.

"I'm so sorry Joe."

"Sorry for what?"

"I, I know I raped you so-" she had started to move further away, and Joe was having none of that. He swiftly grabbed her with his arms and forced her body against his, spooning her from behind.

"You can't rape the willing Star."

"But, but I wasn't in control and-"

"Y-you weren't?" Star immediately picked up on the worry. And as he spoke, it clicked in her head. "S-so, so I, I raped you." She could hear the tears in his voice. Suddenly, she could feel him shaking. She turned, ready to comfort him, but by his face, that wasn't the issue. He was straining. He was in immense pain. He quickly withdrew his hands over his chest, and Star saw his scars, and the wires. Parts of the night came back to her, and she realized that this was serious. She remembered his undershirt, perhaps that was the key to fixing this.

She flew out of the bed, no concern for her decency, towards where she vaguely remembered the shirt landing. When she found it, she grabbed it and immediately tried to hook up some of the wires, it was a no go. They didn't fit. Look again, they were color coded. She looked and found a different wire on him, it was the same color. She pushed them together. *click* it came together. She smiled in relief, only to realize the room was quiet. Way too quiet. She slowly,looked up at Joe.

He wasn't breathing. She stopped, and just stared. She tentatively brought a hand to his face. No breathing, confirmed. She brought her hand to his neck, no pulse… confirmed. She was shaking now. She looked into his eyes, they were rolled back in his head. Joe was dead. She immediately began to panic, her boyfriend had just died in her bed, the same day she went through mewberty. She thought back a bit, this all happened after he had said he raped her. It was her fault. She was about to break down fully when a light caught her eye. Joe's chest was glowing from the inside, right around his heart. A strong, red light, with hints of orange and purple. She was just about to reach for it when suddenly, Joe began gasping for air.

She sat on the bed im bewilderment as the boy who had just died in her bed, was now waking up, gasping for air and clinging to his chest. She broke out of her stupor and, deciding to do everything she could, reached for him, only for him to yell.

"Get the shirt hooked up. Hurry!" She paused for only a moment before returning to her previous work. Time seemed to slow for her, and she effortlessly attached them all together. Joe then used all his strength to push her off. He didn't have that much. But she got the picture, moving herself just off the bed. She regretted it instantly as she heard a noise from his chest, his body tensing and rising in synch with it. She was immediately on top of him, holding onto him as if letting go would mean forever. Thankfully, he didn't push her off, in fact, he seemed to nearly fall back asleep for a bit. Panting on the bed, he slowly brought his breathing in line, grabbing her hands as he slowly returned to normal. It was minutes later that she decided she couldn't wait anymore.

"Joe, what, what was that?" He looked at her. Exhaustion in his eyes.

"Tired. Explain what I can later. Love you, Star." He passed out, leaving a very bewildered Star. After a few moments, she confirmed he had fallen asleep. Relief running through her. As she calmed down, she began to notice a few things. First, she was naked. Second, he was naked. Third, she felt something inside her in a place she had never had something before. Fourth, Joe has abs. Fifth, he has lots, and lots, of small scars near where the wires were coming out of his body. Those held her attention for a while before she felt decidedly, cold. Realizing she was still naked, she opted to take the time and put on her sleeping nighty.

As she went to put on her nighty however, she noticed a change to her body. A few changes actually. Her curves had become far more pronounced, her breasts had grown to b cups, she was a little taller, and her face had lost some of it's childish puffiness. She looked, and felt, more like a woman than ever before. She headed over to her mirror and looked at herself nude, and she liked what she saw. She couldn't compete with genetic winners like Jackie, but she really liked what mewberty had done to her. A small breeze reminded her again that she should probably dress, and finally, she did. She looked back over at Joe as she remembered a promise he had made to her during the act. He had a lot to answer for her, and she was going to get those answers.

As she moved towards the bed she paused. Remembering the last time she had that assertive. It was before St. Olga's. She smiled at that. Joe had again brought out more of who she was. The years at that place finally losing their power over her. She looked over him again, a peaceful smile he held proving to be contagious. She hopped on in, grabbing him in a big hug with both her arms and legs. She sighed contently before falling asleep. Hoping to get her answer sooner rather than later.

Star awoke to a hand gently running through her hair. She awoke to a very pleasant sight of muscles under moonlight. She absentmindedly looked a little lower, and upon seeing the wires, came fully awake. The memories of earlier that day came flooding back. She enjoyed this a lot, and hoped it would happen again, but she knew what she must do now. With no small effort, she pushed herself away to look at Joe. He met her gaze immediately and her resolve broke as she saw the tears on his eyes. She felt horrible as he started to talk.

"I'm so sorry." It felt like someone had slammed a fist into her gut.

"Joe. There's no need-"

"I raped you."

"No, you didn't."

"But you weren't in control. You couldn't consent. That's rape Star! That's rape." He was crying fully now. "I-" Star had had enough. She forced herself up to him, silencing him with a surprisingly gentle kiss. As she broke away, she took the moment to speak.

"You didn't. Mewberty only causes my desires and wants to come forward, if mewberty me said yes, then that's what I would have said. I was ready Joe. Ready to love you physically as much as i love you emotionally. Joe, you can't rape the willing, and trust me, I was, and am, willing." A large blush took her face as she admitted the last bit. He merely started crying again as he took her into a deep kiss, holding her as close as possible as he curled up in to her. She returned the kiss with just as much strength, wanting to prove that if nothing else, she loved him. The kiss ended abruptly however, when a warm rod touched her body. Joe was so nervous, and Star found it adorable.

"Uh, sorry about that." He shifted away a bit before Star chuckled.

"Well, it's been in more personal places. Big boy Joe is in the clear there." Her blush was now so red her cheek marks were being hidden, but she didn't care. She wouldn't have minded if this ended up being their second and third times. Joe finally calmed down as his blush intensified. He didn't even know why, but this time, he would just roll with it.

"Heh, guess that's true. But, as wonderful as now is, we have, things we need to talk about." Joe sat up, and immediately pulled the covers over himself. He still felt a little awkward leaving himself out there. Especially with Star in her nightie now.

"Joe, will you tell me, everything?"

"About this, yes. To the best of my knowledge. You deserve at least that much." He took a breath of air as the two got comfortable. Joe sat with his back on the headrest, and Star took his side, resting her head on his chest, her right hand lightly dancing over his muscles. "It all started a few years ago. I had just been admitted to the hospital from an ambulance. It was an event like today. I suffered, a heart attack. It was rather severe. Didn't come close to dying, none of the attacks has brought me even close so far, but it hurt. A lot. They then determined I have, a heart condition which causes an irregular heartbeat called arrhythmia. I was given some pretty low chances to live. This shirt holds power to charge up a defibrillator, a device to restart your heart, that was planted in my chest years ago. That's what the wires lead to. It was said to buy me time, but a new procedure was developed a few months ago, before I moved here. I just underwent the last few years to make sure i can go through the procedure a few weeks ago, just after Gustav went back home. I get the results soon, and then we will have a surgery date. Any questions so far?" An immediate question popped into her head.

"You died."

"Huh?"

"Earlier, you died. Your breathing stopped, your heart stopped, you were unresponsive. Joe, you died, and came back to life." She looked up at him, all color had drained from his face, but she did not expect his response.

"Oh no. Not again. Not like this, not before I have answers." She looked at him quizzically, some doubt coming into her mind as he continued. "Look, I, don't fully have an answer for that." Now she was sure he was lying.

"Your chest glowed, just before you came back, your chest glowed. It was so bright your entire rib cage looked like it was on fire! You can't say you don't know about it!" She had risen during her speech to sit on his lap, giving him no chance to escape.

"I'm serious Star. This is the first time I have even heard about a light like that, humans don't do that naturally." The sincerity in his voice calmed her a bit. "Look, I was talking to your mom the other day, I had discovered that some dreams of suicide I have had for years, aren't exactly dreams. For whatever reason, I don't die. I guess now it's more that I don't stay dead, explains a few things really. But her only answer is that they need more information. Glossaryck is supposed to be one of the beings monitoring me right now, trying to figure out what's going on with the aura i seem to have, and I guess it must be related to what's happening to me now. I'm scared Star. I'm so scared." He broke down, crying again. This time, Star just hugged him, letting him cry it all out. She may not be able to help figure this out, but she can help him feel better.

A few minutes later, and the two were again simply lying there, enjoying each others presence. It was one of the joys of loving each other, and since everyone wanted them together so much, none of them could complain if the lovers spent time like this.

"Joe. I know you're scared, I know why you're scared. I can't fix it, at least not yet I can't, but I'll be here, by your side. Forever." She gripped,Joe tightly to emphasize her point. Joe, returning the squeeze. At least, until nature decided to remind him that they were in a very, intimate, position.

"Uh, I think I need to put on pants." Joe smiled awkwardly, and that only deepened as her look became far less comforting, and far more lascivious.

"Well, earlier you seemed pretty unhappy with how things went with our, first. So, why don't we give my new body a test run, and really enjoy ourselves as two teenagers in love should." Joe stared at her for a moment, and though she remained stoic, she worried she may have been too direct.

"Star, you have never been quite this forward since we started dating… I love you." He kissed her as his hands immediately went to her sides, caressing her. She giggled her excitement into the kiss before humming her approval at his actions. It didn't take him long to discover mewberty didn't just give his girlfriend a few more curves. As he removed her nighty, he heard a light buzz, causing him to look at Star in surprise.

"Those are, my mewberty wings. They don't quite let me fly, but they do show my excitement. Oh, and only lovers my touch a princess's wings, my lover." She gave him a sultry look as he took the thankfully obvious hint, lightly touching her wings. They shifted under his fingers as Star moaned. If je wasn't at full mast before, he was now. Star's excitement was contagious as she fondled his chest, before presenting hers to him. He quickly dove in, taking a nipple into his mouth, eager to move the show along, his body more than ready to try and seed this incredibly alluring woman.

Star was soon signaling him to pull back, and he reluctantly did, and Star got off the bed. She stood near the balcony, the moonlight shining upon her, accentuating her beauty to him. Then, she removed her underwear, taking a very low, slow, bow. He saw everything, and could feel himself twitching in preparation.

"Hope You liked the look, lover, cause now, I'm ready." She slowly walked back, swaying her hips as much as she comfortably could. She knew she was driving him wild, and as she caught a glimpse of him, she began to question how her mewberty form had taken the thing. He was huge compared to what she had expected. And it made her smile. She reached the bed, and slowly crawled over him, being very careful of his wires. She grabbed his lips in a kiss as she positioned him at her entrance. Without any pomp or circumstance, she sat down, filling her to the brim with him, and taking him all the way to the base. He felt amazing, and when he heard her moan, he felt even better. He used what willpower he had left to place his hands in her back, near her sensitive wings, and whispered in her ear.

"I love you, Star." He kissed her ear, and lost all control. In a matter of moments, he had gone from a standstill, to full force fucking. Burying himself as fast as his body would allow, teasing her wings as much as possible. He soon gave that up when he realized he may hurt her if he touches her too hard, opting instead to massage her chest, never once dropping her lips from his. Far too soon, he reached a peak, and as his senses fured full throttle, he heard her nearly scream.

"Coming!" The two laid down, panting. The feeling was amazing. Until, Joe felt a familiar feeling. An unpleasant one. He wanted to,get Star off, but before he could, their bodies were forced to move, painfully forced. Joe felt the feeling dissipate, thanking whatever was listening that the event only required one shock, before looking over at Star who seemed confused.

"Did, did I do that poorly?" Joe smiled at her before responding.

"You did so good my heart skipped a few beats." Star gave a small chuckle to the dark joke, taking the hidden understanding that he was fine, and that she did nothing wrong.

"I'm glad."

"Me too. And Star?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you, my Little Love Bug.."

"I love you too, Mr. Big Muscles." She smiled and gave him a small peck on his pec, before getting comfy, and quickly falling asleep, Joe's fluids slowly flowing out of her. Joe felt sleep take him, and he couldn't have been happier.

"Oh dear." The two awoke to a voice that sent a chill down their spines. It was a female voice. Not Mrs. Diaz's, and not Olivia's. The voice belonged to one woman alone.

"Mom?" Star sat up, only to find that behind her mother, was everyone. They had come to check up on the two early in the morning, meaning right now everyone could see her new breasts and wings, from her mother, to Olivia, to all three Diazs, and worst of all, her father. She immediately shrieked and covered herself, eaking Joe who immediately grabbed Star in a protective embrace.

"Oh goodness. You two, get a shower and get dressed." Everyone besides Moon had averted their eyes to some degree, with the Diaz men opting to go downstairs entirely. "I know what happened, mewberty does it's thing. Do you two need any help or-"

"We went another round when we woke up with me back to normal."

"Yes!" All eyes were on Olivia now as Moon and Mrs. Diaz groaned. "Cough them up ladies, and I'll be counting Angie!" With a smile Olivia held out her hand, Angie taking out a few bills while Moon took a few gold coins from her purse. "Thank you ladies! You're shaping up to be your big sister Joe!" She smiled at the now embarrassed and confused teenagers as she left. A positive beat to her step.

"Well, we had a bet on exactly what happened here and what we would find. Marco believed you two would have basically fought and worn yourselves out, Raphael believed you two would reaffirm your love, Star would go back to normal, and that would be that. I thought you two would already be back to it right now, while Moon believed you two would need therapy after she raped you. Olivia thought you two would be too tired from a night of, relations, and River thought you two would fight before settling in for fun." Both teens stared at River.

"Sounded like the best of both worlds to me!" His face showed pure delight, but as he stared at Joe, his eyes held a small bit of distance. Joe silently gulped as Star started taking smaller breaths.

"Well, we'll let you take your time and get ready since the situation is, resolved. Star, we will test you in two weeks, and please, don't try and make me a grandma yet." With a genuine smile, Moon left with Angie, leaving River alone with them.

"And if you ended up using my daughter for sex, I'll kill you. I feel you love my daughter, so even if it just doesn't work out I won't kill you unless you willingly break her heart. Take your time!" With that, River left. Both teens breathing heavily as they collapsed on the bed.

"... Sis will probably want me to stay and make her an aunt."

"Well, as much as mom and dad act that way, they really wouldn't mind a grandkid." She remained silent for a while before continuing. "I don't think I'm ready to be a mom yet."

"Well, I'm not ready to be a dad. We have items to protect from, that result, so it's not too bad." Star giggled a little.

"We just might want me to hang onto them. Olivia seems like she would sabotage them for her plans." Joe chuckled at that.

"Yeah, the Diaz's and your parents seem less likely to do something like that." This time they shared a chuckle before Star got up, no longer bothering to cover herself, causing Joe to blush deeply.

"Gotta get used to this Joe, back on Mewni, I slept nude a good amount of the time, and I am sure it's going to be a lot more common." The words, combined with her position and smirk gave Joe a very vivid idea of what she meant. He suddenly realized why Moon had said what she did, and finally made sense as to why mewnians were so open about sex. He was brought out of his thoughts by a chaste kiss on the lips. "Come on Muscles, let's get dressed before someone new wins the bet." They both laughed, enjoying the moment and, in a few minutes, they were heading downstairs, and listening to the disaster Star created at the school when she went into mewberty.

"So, Star trapped the entire male population of the school looking for me besides you Marco?"

"Yeah, it was really pretty creepy. She'd pick a guy up, sniff them, them toss them. She started to get aggressive when it was just me, but before anything could happen Queen Moon showed up and told her where you were. She was off like a rocket giggling." Joe looked at Star who was clearly not having fond memories of the event.

"Sounds like I need to spend more time making someone feel loved then." She squeezed Joe's hand as a smile fell over her face.

"Wouldn't have stopped it, but I won't say no to some more 'I love you's." The two shared a smile as the table awed at them. Moon was even smiling as a tear ran down her face.

"I do have a question for you though no- *Cough*. Joseph. When you met my daughter, you acted in a way which made me feel someone gave you a pretty bad run in. Do you mind, explaining what happened?" Joe tensed up. It had been the first time since he met Star that the memory had popped up. His hand became sweaty and he began to shake. With his knew knowledge, it suddenly became even worse. The entire table immediately glared at River. "Sorry, I didn't rea-"

"I, it's fine. I, I need to t-talk abo- about it e-e-eventually." The entire room was now torn between curiosity and concern.

A few towns back, at the start of the year, a girl asked me out. She did it every few days, and finally I said yes. I was wary most of the day but when nothing happened I let my guard down. She then brought me to this place, and, and, a-"

"He was beaten to the brink of death." The entire room turned to Olivia. She saw Joe trying and since she knew about this one, she decided to interject. What no one had expected from the normally upbeat woman, was the sheer hate in her voice. "She lured him into a normal looking building and he was jumped by several boys in the class. She fucked them then blamed Joe. If not for a security camera capturing the start of the beating outside, Joe would have been charged for rape on top of his injuries." Star squeezed Joe's hand, but she was also very curious. Just what had the boy been through. What had her man been through?

"I'm so sorry Joseph." River was clearly appalled. "Moonpie and Star have told me bits and pieces of stories you've told, but to think it was to such an extent. Were the criminals-"

"The boys lost a lot. They were kicked out of school, most had to leave town when their parents lost their jobs, and the remainder ended up in what is essentially a prison for minors. The girl, she got off as a victim of circumstance. Girls usually get off light even with vindictively fabricated rape charges. Little bitch perpetuated her claim and we were moved for our safety after it was confirmed she hired some thugs to attack Joe. I think the girl is still trying to play innocent even against all the evidence." The entire group was oddly quiet. It began to sink in that perhaps, the absolute best thing to ever happen to Joe, was Star. Even now, with the world against them, they had found a comfort in each other. Everything just seemed right when the two were together.

"Glossaryck!" A female voice called out in the void, followed by a pop as said being manifested himself.

"Yes yes. What is-"

"It's gotten worse! The scrolls are blank!"

"Well, perhaps that means we are on the right trail."

"No. Those words are the only reason the multiverse hasn't collapsed. And now They are blank!"

"Wait. You don't just mean the future?"

"No you fool! All of them!"

"That's rather interesting. Never has happened before. Especially since the boy is definitely showing the signs that he's the one." The other voice remained silent for a time.

"How sure are you?"

"More sure than you have ever been."

"...very well. We shall test the boy. We are manipulating Omnitraxus Prime for this one. Heckapoo will be made to test the other one again."

"So you're taking all but Lekmet. Thanks."

"Glossaryck. If this doesn't look like it will pan out, we will destroy him. Even if it means hurting her. Endless failures is better than an eternal failure." The voice disappeared, having left the void space.

"Well, the boys may not need my help for a while, but a certain princess will. Now then, she should have eaten the laced food by now. Better get back there before he impregnates here again." A joyful smile crosses his lips. Star was usually a happy child, especially with Marco, but this was special. As if her soul was cleaved, and she found herself again. Ah, he really wanted to meet Star's daughter. But that could never be. In a flash, he was gone again, when a pair of new voices rang out.

"We may have to remove him from the equation again. Are you prepared, Toffee of Septarsis, The Undying God?"

"More than ever. That I must stand on the stage again, truly we have reached dark times. Tell me, may i experiment with the daughter this time?"

"No. No attempting hybrids with Star."

"A pity. This one might,not enjoy being raped." The voice faded, and for a time, all was silent.

"... Perhaps I need to look at this, from an even higher perspective." With that, the void was empty once again.

**A/N**

**So, the sex wasn't originally going to happen. Originally it was going to end at the wires, Star's curiosity overcoming mewberty's lust. But when people want something and it doesn't monkeywrench the plan, I can roll with it.**

**Next time, we discover a bit more about Star and what she has been through, and then later, it's time for a new actor to enter the stage. And yes, he's going to be flaming hot.**


	8. Chapter 8: Sleep Spelling

*crash* Joe awoke with a start. Glancing around he got his bearings. He was in a jungle. He was alone. Wait, there are strange animals around, not entirely alone. He's in his pajamas. Possible mishap while getting kidnapped. He's in Star's be-

"STAR!" Panic set in as he looked around frantically, the sheets partially falling off of him, revealing his undershirt. He saw no sign of the girl. He quickly looked at the bed, and saw her. She was laying there, asleep. He breathed a massive sigh of relief. As long as Star was safe, they could manage. He placed a hand on her head and brushed her hair, causing the girl to stir instantly.

'_How in the world brushing her hair wakes her up, but screaming her name doesn't I'll never know.' _He smiled lightly as she got up. In a daze she looked around, then looked at him.

"Joe? What happened? Did, did you do this?" Her expression was genuine confusion.

"No, I have no idea what's going on." As he was waking up he finally noticed something behind Star. Her bedroom wall. "All I know is that this is your room." Star looked around before grabbing her wand. She immediately cast a spell and the forest disappeared, a small thud being heard outside.

"Ouch. Star, Joe? You two okay in there?"

"Come on in Marco, we're decent." Marco opened the door slowly before stepping inside. He closed the door as slowly, possibly to keep the noise down.

"You guys are lucky my parents are heavy sleepers most of the time. But what was that?"

"We were wondering the same thing Marco. Hard to tell with waking up in the middle of it. I can stay up and keep watch for us, I don't usually sleep this much this often."

"As long as you're here when I wake up boo."

"Can't promise that. Marco is teaching me how to make good pancakes so i can spoil you." This got a giggle out of Star. While Joe was paying most of his attention to Star, he saw a genuine smile over Marco's face. Now that he was thinking on it, recently Marco had spent a ton of time in contact with him, yet hadn't shown a single outburst in weeks. While it was a question for later, it was a small victory to add to the many the three of them were having. "Now, you two get some sleep. Star, you need your rest so you don't fall asleep too fast in class, and Marco, you gotta be on time to talk with Jackie some more." The three giggled.

"Well then loverboy, give me some tips here!"

"Be yourself. Worked wonders for me!" He hugged Star for emphasis, enjoying her warmth as she sighed. They said their good nights and Marco left. After getting comfortable Star fell asleep rather quickly. Joe stayed on alert, holding Star gently, but ready to do anything to protect her. He looked around the room and realized he didn't really spend time in jere without Star, so he hadn't really looked at it recently. Not that she changed much on the first level, just a few pictures of the two of them, and for a good portion of them Marco as well, hanging out around town or the occasional alternate dimension.

His thoughts drifted to a recent trip Marco and Star had taken to Pixtopia after her first prank call session since before St. O's. It still surprised him how much she had started coming out of her shell now. She was suddenly taking the lead on adventures, even going to a few without Moon's knowledge. She was more forward, actively flaunting their relationship. A recent phone call came to mind with Ponyhead, she seemed, joyful. It was like Star being out of her shell brought Ponyhead a bit more out of hers.

And the energy, the energy was a massive shift. Star was practically off the walls from the get go now, dragging Joe or Marco around in to she was exhausted, and the three would have it no other way. Star was also making more friends at school. Janna Ordonia, the school troublemaker, was her first friend. She was not an amazing person, but she wasn't a bad girl. Often just showing genuine interest in Star's magic. The two would hype each other up about various possible magics on Earth, and thus she became Star's number three Earth friend.

When she befriended Jackie, Joe was worried she had done it purely to help Marco, he was happy to be proven wrong. Jackie taught Star how to skateboard, and Star helped Jackie figure out how to do some more cool tricks. Of course she was also trying to get them together, but for now, it was as a group instead of trying to force the two together, she was trying to get them to talk naturally. A move Joe fully did his best to help.

Just yesterday they saw results, and that picture displays prominently on Star's desk. A picture of Marco and Jackie touching during a photo. It was fun to tease him over. He later admitted he had a crush since kindergarten and to be honest, it made Joe uncomfortable about it. He felt like he was putting her on a pedestal. Raising her to some angelic heights out of his reach. If he did that, he was no better than himself when he first got with Star. Maybe that's why Star was going the route she was. Perhaps she saw the similarity. And that was two more things he loved about her.

She paid attention to people, and she was smart when it came to people. She was awesome at noticing small details. After a few earlier on problems, including making Ms. Skullnik a troll, she learned that sometimes, subtle and slower approaches work better. She was a regular problem solver for Marco, helping him out and in doing so warming up to the general school populace.

Breaking out of his reminiscing, he looked down at Star. She was mumbling about tasting something as her hands got under his shirt. She purred as she felt his and, and got comfortable again. Joe didn't even notice as her cute, warm form, lulled him into sleep.

He awoke with a start. Star was gone from his grip, and the jungle was back. He was about to scream when he heard Star hollering joyfully. He relaxed, realizing the relatively low danger as he got up. He looked at himself when he felt a breeze to find that during the night, Star's squirming had dislodged his shorts, and nearly removed his underwear. He made a note to wear tighter fitting clothing to bed before fixing his clothes, throwing on one of his cover shirts, and following the noise. He eventually found the rest of the household having breakfast tacos at the now tree shaped table with multiple levels ranging from nearly the floor. To the ceiling..

"Morning Joe. You seemed really tired so I didn't want to wake you up." Angie said from her seat on the ground level. He looked up. And spotted Star sitting about halfway up, eagerly patting the seat next to her. He smiled warmly and easily made his way there. Already on his plate were several tacos, each one mixed with different ingredients and sauces. He chuckled as he took one, and immediately held it to Star's mouth.

"Looks like I win the bet honey!" Raphael said from his seat to Angie's side.

"Well, I still won that he didn't immediately wake up when Star came downstairs, so hah!" They gave each other playful smiles before giggling.

"It's surprising that without my cute warmer I stayed asleep for more than a second. Star blushed, but continued to eat as she passed him a taco, feeding him. They heard the sound of cameras taking pictures, and barely contained awws, bit nothing was ruining this moment.

*bark!*

Or they thought. A litter of eight puppies suddenly ran around the corner, one holding a plastic toy in its mouth as the others followed, a few laser beams shooting from their eyes as they went. Joe looked around and concluded they must have been magicked up that night after he fell asleep. He finally put all his thoughts in order.

"So, I fell asleep and-" a taco found his mouth as star swallowed her bite, answering before taking another.

"Yuppers. Surprised my comfort kept you asleep that long." She winked and finished the taco, kissing Joe's hand before chewing.

"I'm sorry Star. I should have stayed awake for you." She swallowed before responding.

"Oh it's fine. You were there for me, and that matters far more." They looked at each other, a small kiss shared between them as they realized they had quickly eaten their plates. They quickly abandoned their paparazzi with their plates in hand. They cleaned them up, and as the adults finished their meals, Star used her magic to restore the house to its previous state, but now tin seven laser puppies. Joe gave her a quizzical look and she returned it.

"They were all supposed to disappear. Guess, they're permanent. Heh." She smiled sheepishly as Joe pat her shoulder.

"Things happen. Now, where's Marco?"

"Oh, I may have tricked him into going on a morning breakfast date with Jackie alone." Her smile grew big as she gave away her plan. Joe couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"You're perfect Star. But, now we have school to head to. So let's get dressed and get going. And remember, it's starting to cool off out there! She nodded and they went to her room. Joe grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom while Star said for him to go first as she wanted to pick out an outfit. As Joe approached the bathroom he heard Raphael call from downstairs.

"We're heading out a little early guys. Work waits for no man or woman!" He heard the door slam shut, odd behaviour for the Diazs, but perhaps Star went with them to shower at school. Thanks to Brittney, the bathrooms at school are pretty awesome. He shrugged and went in. He stripped down and unhooked his shirt. He capped each plug and turned on the water. The shower was quickly steaming. Perfect. He stepped in and was enjoying the warmth, when he heard the door close.

"Occupied!"

"Oh, I know that!" He blinked. This wasn't happening. He heard clothes hit the floor. This was happening. The shower door opened them closed. This is actually happening.

"Uh, Star?" She didn't answer. Hugging him from behind, sighing in relief. He felt her body touch his and he grew far warmer. Then he felt her body move. At first her body was merely relaxing. But it grew far more, intentional, as she kept going. It wasn't long before he popped a full boner.

"Lets get dirty before we get clean, Joe." Her command came through loud and clear, Joe's body feeling her need. But it wasn't a need for a fast fuck. No, it was something else. She looked in to his eyes, she didn't want a fucking. She wanted to make love. And god damn it, Star had made it impossible to say no. He immediately grabbed her in a gentle kiss. She reciprocated, humming her enjoyment as one of her legs lifted subconsciously. He loved the feeling of her lips against his, and he wanted more. He didn't know how long they kissed like that before Star began to grind on him.

He wasn't new to this. Not fully. He had seen plenty of, reference material, and he wanted to do something for Star. Something special. He began break the kiss, and though she tried to follow, she couldn't forever. When they were forced apart he immediately dove in again, sensually kissing her forehead, before trailing his kisses down. Understanding he was doing this for her, she stopped and leaned back towards the wall of the shower.

He kissed her nose next, then her upper lip, he gave her a quick peck on the lips, but he quickly moved over to her cheek. Before going lower he gave each of her hearts a long kiss, making sure she felt it, before moving on down. He kissed her jaw, her neck several times, her collar bone, and there he began to slow again. He carefully moved towards her breast, his hands crawling delicately over her body as he put all his effort into her. She was breathing very deeply now, fighting moans as he got nearer to her breasts. His hands and face dancing over her body as he did. Just as her patience wore thin, he began to close in. He was kissing down the mound of her left breast, and dancing his fingers in a spiral on her right. His right hand, was simply exploring the small of her back, slowly tracing upwards. She lost her hold on her breath as he kissed her nipple. No longer were her breaths deep and in control, they were quick and shallow, her body demanding oxygen to help feed the fire Joe was stoking so well. The perky object sending waves of pleasure with each pass of his tongue. She exploded again when his left hand peaked out on her nipple, lightly playing with the thing while his right hand approached its destination. She was crying loudly, but was still holding back as he caressed her wings. She immediately grabbed onto him, shaking as she moaned loudly, deeply, and for quite some time.

He knew what had happened, she came, hard. This was their third time together, but didn't realize girls really could come from this alone. Perhaps being stressed out helped that along. She was still coming down from her orgasm, but Joe was surprisingly prepared. He was moving his hands slowly over her back. Avoiding her wings, as he held her close to him. He wanted to give her at least one more high before they got clean for real. After a few minutes, her breathing changed again, from the long, drawn out falling, to the short, building breaths. She was ready to go again.

So he began again, starting from her breasts, he began to trail down, slowly meandering over her taught, athletic body. Even with as close as they had been, this was a first. He hadn't seen this part of her this closely yet. He wanted to memorize it. The touch, the taste, the smells, everything. Soon, his journey was nearing its end. Star had her hands on his head, resting them there as he began to circle her yet again. His hands slowly moving behind her to her butt, each hand massaging a cheek gently. He was in no rush. He wanted her to experience this to as amazing a degree as he could.

She soon started to push and pull him towards her core. She was getting impatient, and he decided against holding off. This was for her after all. Instead of going straight there though, he started at her navel, briefly trying to make out with it before deeply kissing straight down her body. She moaned loudly, not bothering to hide her excitement as he approached. He Then jumped a bit as he kissed into the fair hair on her pelvis, and made her scream with a deep kiss right onto her lower lips. A deep, passionate kiss with lips that were not designed to kiss back. His hands groped her with more energy, more fervor, and soon, he added his tongue to the mix. He adjusted his angle of attack, his depth, and his strength, looking for the internal button he heard of. After a moment, he noticed her pulling him up. Saddened, he acquiesced, halting for one moment to kiss her nub, sending a wave of pure pleasure spiking through her.

She recovered quickly and wasted no time at all plucking him up with insane strength and forcing her tongue down his throat. She kissed him with such passion that he was at a loss for his own breath. He began to feel light headed when she finally broke the kiss.

"Love me." The whispered command may as well have been shouted under penalty of death to Joe. He bent down, grabbed her ass and lifted her up. She reached down and made sure he lined up right, admiring both his strength, and his length, as he swiftly hilted inside her. He began to thrust slowly, big and deep, as she clung to him like a baby. She was ready for more, but she wanted this. Slow, steady, lovingly. Being fucked silly could wait. For the moment, it was love. They kissed again gently, enjoying the contact for a minute before lust over took them. The moment her tongue begged for entry he obliged, opening his mouth and grabbing her tongue with his. He began to thrust with strength as he approached his limit. She began to lose focus on the kiss, fast approaching her own strong orgasm. Then, it hit. They came together and moaned so loudly he thought the glass door would shatter. He pumped himself empty within her, and fell to the ground. Spent and exhausted. They sat there, under the water as it rained down on them. Their bodies practically glowing in the shower as the came down together.

"I love you Star,"

"After a surprise performance like that, I don't doubt it, my love." She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before falling back down, her legs over his as he finally left her, limp. It took several minutes before they could stand again. "You're okay, right Joe?"

"Yeah. I'm perfectly fine this time. Just a fast heartbeat, which is normal. I think." She giggled and rested against him for a few more minutes. Finally feeling content, they helped each other wash without a word, got dressed, and left for school.

That night, they took it easy, they did their homework and Joe once again went to bed with Star. But They didn't quite go to sleep immediately.

"Joe, I have a question for you, and, please be honest."

"Sure thing Star, what's up?"

"Was, I your first girl?"

"My first consensual girl. Why?"

"Was, that all taught to you by-"

"Porn."

"Huh?"

"I, uh, learned it from porn."

"What's porn?"

"Oh boy. Uh, well. Let me, give you a look. Might be a bit, faster." Joe climbed out of the bed. He opened his suitcase up, producing a small laptop. He quickly,opened up a series of files, the last of which was password protected, and played a video for Star.

"Oh, it's a kind of movie! That can be pretty, cool. Uh, oh." She slowly became entranced as the actors were quick to undress and begin fucking. She watched the male do the same thing he did to her, but with a lot less care and effort. She then watched in amazement as the girl took the man into her mouth. The video lasted a scant ten minutes, but Star could already tell this was not movie night material.

"And that's porn."

"So, are most earthlings terrible lovers or…?"

"Probably not. This is just, material, to get yourself excited for, solos."

"Oh. That's a lot more convenient than Mewni. There we have to find pictures, and even then they rarely show underwear. Then again, we are also very open sexually. It's not uncommon for princesses of old to shack up with common men for years before mewberty."

"That almost sounds like Raphael could be with you sexually on Mewni."

"He could if I allowed him to."

"And that's more than I ever wanted to know. We got school in the morning Star, let's head to bed." She giggled before kissing him on the cheek. She barely,gave him time to close the laptop than she was dragging him to bed. She cuddled up into his arms as he pulled the covers up. They kissed good night and surprisingly quickly fell sleep.

"Jungle Hut Protector." In a flash of light, Star and Joe were surrounded by a jungle hut with wooden plating. Joe was forced awake by the sound of it. He was shocked at first before looking to Star in his arms. She had grabbed her wand off the nightdesk and started casting in her sleep. "Kitty Guard Destroyer." Now a large, tiger sized cat appeared in the room. Joe went wide-eyed and gripped Star tightly to his chest as the cat sniffed him, then walked out of the hut. He was still recovering when she spoke again. "Doom Forest Creation." He heard the sounds of various plants rustling outside. Joe immediately went to combing her hair, but unlike last time, she didn't wake, but started tossing and turning.

"Stop. Don't touch me. M-mommy. Daddy, Joe… help." She began to struggle and as Joe tried to comfort her it was clear she was putting more effort into it. He quickly kissed her and she stopped. He felt the movement in her body stop, and then her lips started to move. She was no longer struggling, but returning the kiss. He broke the kiss, much to her chagrin as she woke up, looking around again before looking at the wand in her hand.

"Uh, what?"

"You were casting in your sleep." She looked at him wide-eyed before looking down at her feet. "Was, it a nightmare?" After a moment she nodded. Then came a scream. "Uh, I think the big cst you summoned is attacking Marco." She lifted the wand and again, dissipated the magic. A few moments later Marco burst through the door.

"Is every-"

"Yes." Star sounded defeated. Joe hugged her deeply and Marco began to speak.

"Do, do you want to talk about it?"

"No." Joe felt his heart ache. "But I need to. I'm, having nightmares about a particular day at St. O's. I had tried to escape with Ponyhead. It was her third strike. You see, they had a very, horrible, three strike system. First strike is a slap on the wrist alongside a verbal warning. Second strike they are allowed to do horrible things to you, like rape, for a month. The few living guards always tried to get us to strike two. They knew they wouldn't be caught either. They had potions to restore wounds and that included ripped hymens. Third strike they hated giving. Preferring to punish those students and not report them. Ponyhead and I tried to escape, but were caught by the headmistress so they didn't get the chance. This was about a week before I was rescued. I had snuck out a note requesting help from my mother. One of the few things I learned well from her was coding requests for aid in to the most benign of letters. They strapped me down in a prep room while they took Ponyhead to the conformity chamber. She came out four days later acting like she does now.

"It scared me, then they brought me into the chamber. They injected some drugs into me, forced my eyes open, amd made me watch a brainwashing video on being a proper princess. It took less than a day to break me. Apparently they found out my mother was coming for a visit. They assumed I had done something but thankfully the brainwashing made me forget about the code. They had a copy of the letter, but assumed it was a simple mother-daughter visit. The entire male guard raped me that day and night. They left me a day to rest and compose myself, then returned to humiliate me by personally bathing and prepping me. When I met my mother I almost convinced her everything was fine, until she noticed a guard's erection. She quickly used a spell on him to see what was happening, they didn't stand a chance. Mom used her full power and captured every living soul, destroying the automatons.

"Sadly, the headmistress escaped during transport, but all others involved were tried, and executed, by every country who had daughters there. My family came together and supported me, and as time went on, I got a little better. Until I met you two though, it looked like I'd never get back to normal." She sniffled, and suddenly felt a new pair of arms around her. Looking up, Marco and Joe now both had her in their strongest hugs, trying desperately to drive the pain away. She smiled as she let loose, her tears falling like a river. They stayed like that for a little while before separating slightly. Even Marco stayed beside the bed in case Star needed support, but voicing his concerns at the same time.

"What triggered this though? What could have caused them to come back now, and so strongly? Star was just getting more and more active,in her life, and now, this? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, this falls to psychology 201." They both looked at Joe expectantly. "During my time at St. Argute's they did start off trying to help me. One of the things they taught is that as you return from an altered state, at first your mind suppresses the worst of things so you can return to normal quicker. Eventually you must confront your own memories or else you never quite become normal again."

"So Star's subconscious is forcing her to face what happened to help her get back to normal?"

"Correct. Until she can move on, the nightmares will keep coming, potentially getting worse and worse until they become night terrors."

"What's a night terror? A really bad nightmare?"

"No Star, it's far worse than that. A nightmare can't hurt you, a night terror can kill you." She gulped at that, clearly afraid. "They are nightmares so real to you that they cause real world damage, your mind tricking your body into hurting itself." Star was now shaking in his arms. With a glance Marco got the hint and hugged her again, slowly stopping her shakes. "The first step, is talking about it. Sometimes, it's the only step needed. So Star, if you ever feel like talking, remember. Marco and I will listen without judging. You did nothing wrong."

"Yeah, my awesome bestie will never, ever have to go through something like that again. Promise." With a sniffle, Star replied. A gentle, yet deep smile planted on her face.

"Thanks guys. I, I'm so lucky to have such a great bestie and boyfriend. I'm so happy To-." She instantly curled up, shaking harder than ever as her wand glowed with magic. Joe and Marco immediately realized something was up. Something else was bothering her, and unlike St. O's, this one was buried, not helped. The two boys enclosed the girl again, and soon realized this night was not going to be filled with comfortable sleep.

"Marco, do you mind staying with Star and I tonight. I think she needs us more than any of us knows." Without a word he hopped into the bed, pulling Star into a deep hug. Stuck between the two of them, Star gradually calmed down, until she could finally cry, she cried herself into a dreamless sleep. Marco eventually passed out, leaving Joe alone and awake. He did some thinking and concluded one thing, this new one was not at St. O's level, it was far, far worse. This was separate, but related. She wasn't ready to talk, but he wasn't ready to give up either.

'_'To' huh? Probably a name. Well, whoever you are 'To', I won't let you hurt Star._' He settled in, but popped up again when an unknown voice trumpeted in his head.

'_You'll do exactly that, mortal._' The voice left, but Joe couldn't stop shaking. Whatever that was, it could kill all three of them right then and there. It was not something to be reckoned with. And worst of all, he probably couldn't stop it either.

He didn't sleep a wink that night. He played it off fine, but clearly he was adapting to Star's sleep schedule. He wanted more sleep, and he wasn't getting it today. At lunch he snuck away to try and contact Star's parents, but neither was available, scaring him further. He hoped he was mistaken, and that night thankfully proved the hope valid.

"Sorry for missing your call Joe, was stuck in a meeting with the MHC. What's the problem?"

"Last night Star started sleep spelling."

"Worrying. But judging by how late the call occurred, I suppose it's under control now?"

"Maybe. You see, the three of us, Marco, Star and I, talked about her last days at St. O's. Afterwards, we were about to wrap things up when she thought of something so frightening, she nearly blasted all of us with magic. She froze up, she was shaking. And while I managed to convince her otherwise thanks to Marco, she partially wet the bed." Moon looked shocked to hear all this, she quickly moved her hand, dropping all Queenly aspects to enter her full mother mode. "She was thinking of someone. Their name starts with 'To' and it frightened her so much I decided not to press it. I need to know, did this guy hurt Star?" He looked in the mirror at Moon, and she returned a surprised look before she chuckled.

"This is the first time I have seen you so angry Joe. I can't help but feel confident that you're just who Star needs by her side. I won't go into specifics, but yes, I know who that is, and they did. They tricked me and River in to sending Star to St. Olga's. The rest is for Star to say. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're in the right. Just, we need to be careful. I don't know who this is, but I assume they are powerful." Moon nodded. "Powerful enough to tell me I can't stop him from doing something to her again." Moon blanched.

"I will get to work on something. I am sure I know exactly what he's up to, and I don't have much time. Just, make sure whatever happens, she doesn't leave Earth unless it's to come to me. In fact, I'll bring her here in four days. She must not go anywhere else. Understand?" With a nod, Joe agreed. Understanding how important this was. He would protect Star. Even if it meant going to hell, and failing to make the round trip this time.

**A/N**

**Now that's an awkward thing to end the chapter with. What is To? Well… wait, you know it's Tom? Damn. Okay then. Next up is Tom! What is he doing, and how will he do it? Well, it's all started next time, in the long chapter about the single most pivotal moment of the first season. Yes, more than Toffee, and more than St. O's. This is the story of Starco, where we got our first confirmation that those two were meant for each other. It also brought out Tom, and as you would suspect, he's my second favorite character. I'll leave my thoughts about him till the next chapter, spoilers and all. But… I can hint a little, right?**

**"DID JOE JUST KILL THOMAS LUCITOR?"**

**Maybe not that much of a spoiler. Uh, oh look! A gas leak!**

**"It's not a gas leak, it's a portal!"**

… **was that Marco? … go get her!**


	9. Chapter 9: Blood Moon

Joe had been on guard for two weeks now. After his conversation with Moon, he decided he would keep a big watch on Star. When his sister realized her injury was no longer any hindrance she asked him to come back, but he said no. Star needed him. At first she was excited, but when she saw his face, realized that while this was out of love, it wasn't the kind she expected. She didn't stop him, and instead let him go without a fuss.

Star was elated at first, regardless of the reason. But as Joe became more and more exhausted, she realized he was staying up all night, and it was getting to him. He was starting to drift off at school, an environment he fully expected her to be safe in. Just the other day Joe fell face first into his lunch, sleeping without even touching the sandwich she made him. She felt horrible to have caused this, and finally, she had enough. As they were about to head to school today, she hit him with a sleep spell. He would be asleep until either that evening, or she released the spell. What could happen without Joe for just one day?

The morning started to test her almost immediately. She had just cast the spell, and was preparing to kiss him sweet dreams, when suddenly one of her framed pictures fell off the wall. The sound of breaking glass filling the previously silent air. She held out her wand, and saw nothing but the picture frame. She picked it up and recognized it. It was the group photo she and Joe took with their respective families. She smiled looking at it, amd reconsidered releasing the spell on him, but found her strength when she remembered how tired he was lately. She quickly ran over, kissed him on the cheek, and headed towards the shower. Her day didn't get any better from there.

She dropped the soap multiple times, had everything that wasn't tied down falling, she could swear someone was watching her, and worst of all, the water heater seemed busted. When she finally finished her shower she felt horrible. Worse than before. Now she really wanted to wake Joe, to have his comfort right now, but she would be strong. This would give them a little space, and him a little rest.

She soon headed downstairs and met the Diazs for breakfast. Surprisingly, she seemed to beat the food today. Maybe those showers with Joe weren't the fastest method to getting clean after all. As she sat down, she could smell what Angie was cooking. Homemade pancakes with bacon. Her favorite. She loved eating them. Especially with Joe. She would often sit in his lap and have him feed her from his plate. Not that he complained much. As Angie turned the bend, she suddenly seemed spooked, dropping a very large plate of pancakes all over the floor.

"Oh dios mio. I'm so sorry. I just felt like something shocked me. She looked down at the mess on the floor and sighed. There was no time to remake breakfast and get the kids off to school.

"I'm so sorry everyone. You'll have to stop somewhere and get a breakfast to go." She sounded horribly defeated, so much so that Star felt sorry for how upset she must have looked when it happened.

"It's okay mom. Things happen. The two of us will get something on the way." That however, grabbed Raphaels attention.

"Two? What about Joe?"

"Well, he's been under the weather recently and I figured it would be best if he stayed home and rested. Right Marco?" Star held a very convincing concerned look. Probably because she was. Marco realized he wouldn't be lying, so he went with it.

"It's true dad. He needs some serious rest." The two adults took it in stride and soon, the four of them were on their way to get breakfast, then go their separate ways for the day. Marco and Star arriving just in time for him to meet Jackie. Star smiled as the boy actually managed to talk to Jackie, instead of simply nodding. It wasn't much, but progress was progress.

The school day itself started normally. Star hardly even noticed Joe's absence as she sat down for first period. Her relief over him sleeping trumping her desire to be beside him all the time. Now that she thought of it, she was never without him lately. They only separated to use the bathroom, shower, or go to different classes. She began to wonder if maybe being with him all the time was, bad for them or something. Even her parents weren't together this much, and they got together at around the same time. Perhaps with time they would gain a more comfortable distance. Or maybe this was what being in love with one of your best friends did to your relationship. It was usually romantic with Joe, but maybe she should spend time with her other friends without Joe for a bit. After all, nothing could drive them apart. Right? That's when, in the middle of class, a giant pillar of fire appeared in the middle of the classroom.

"Star?"

"That's not me Marco." She pulled out her wand and readied herself, eyes narrowing. This seemed familiar. As the fire disappeared, she saw the last person she wanted to see right in front of her. "Oh no. Tom." Before her was a tall boy, with horns on his head, a fancy suit, purple skin, three eyes covered in sunglasses, red, pointy hair, and a pointy tail.

"Oh yes Starship, it's me." The boy leaned forward, lifting his shades and smiled. His razer sharp teeth causing her heart to beat so rapidly it hurt. "And I'm here today to invite you to the Blood Moon Ball!" He extended his hand, a scarlet flame in the shape of the crescent moon appearing above it. He maintained the pose for a while until Star spoke.

"Narwal Blast!" In a flash of light a narwal appeared and slammed In to the demon, sending him flying as Star ran outside, Marco in hot pursuit. Star made it to the parking lot where she saw a single carriage pulled by the skeleton of a warnicorn. She paused only for a moment before running in the direction of home. She was too scared to remember her spell for getting back to her room, but she knew she had to get there. Marco came out as she got halfway to the sidewalk. He was about to shout her name when a pillar of fire appeared in front of her. Realizing he had to act, Marco ran forward. He watched as she aimed her wand, only for Tom to knock it away, easily grabbing her arms as she tried to go for it.

"Starship, that was very rude. Attacking your destined one with a spell after such a long wait? Tsk tsk. I know you were raised better than that. And i know you were trained better too. His smile looked calm on the outside, but Star knew what lie beneath it. She struggled as he started to pull on her. That was when Marco chopped his hand off with a single karate chop.

"Ouch!" The demon grabbed his wrist in pain as Marco got between him and Star.

"Thanks Marco. But we have to go. Now!" She grabbed him by his hoodie and began to run towards her wand, only for a wall of flames to block their path forward.

"Hey now, this is a bit, extreme." Star was stock still. She knew Tom. He was not this calm. Never. He had something planned. She knew it. "All I planned today was to extend an invitation to the Blood Moon Ball. That's it." His look was calm and collected, it didn't stop Marco from getting between them. She was never more thankful to have such a loyal bestie. "Just, take this bell, and if you decide to come, ring it. Otherwise, just leave it be and it'll disappear on twenty-four hours. It's your choice."

"I don't believe you for a second." She backed up close to the fire, prepared to dive threw it for her wand, even if it meant getting burnt by hellfire.

"Okay okay. Look, I'll leave it here, and you can take it or leave it. Okay? Just, consider it. Please." He laid down a sinister looking bell and hammer before backing up, Marco idly noticed his severed hand using its fingers to 'walk' back to Tom before floating back onto his wrist. "Hope to see you there!" He smiled warmly as he walked into the carriage. Marco thought he saw a burnt shoe on the floor of the wagon as Tom entered before closing the door. In a blaze of fire, the carriage disappeared, and the flames died down. Star immediately grabbed her wand and began running. Marco, started to run after her before he gripped his head in pain. Looking back he saw the bell on the ground. Without further though he grabbed it and the hammer and put it into his pocket, before continuing after Star.

He ran right to the house and as he crossed off the sidewalk onto the grass, he felt a sharp pain in his head again. He shook it off and ran into the house. He quickly found Star in her room, trying desperately to wake Joe.

"Wakey Wakey Spidergoat Eggs and Bacon!" A flash of light emitted from her wand, but Joe lie there, completely asleep. "I don't get it. This should be waking him up instantly. Oh Mewni. What have i done." She looked around and spotted Marco. "Marco! I can't wake Joe up. Do you have anything earthlings use to wake people around here? Marco thought for a moment, but for some reason, he felt like there were a few options he wasn't thinking of. He mentally shrugged and decided it best to do what he did think of. He brought an air horn and blew it right next to Joe's ear. He didn't move. Marco tossed water on him, Joe didn't move. He used his hands to stop Joe from breathing, stopping when he realized he might kill Joe before he wakes up. He had Star kiss him, to no effect.

"Well, I'm out of ideas. Sorry Star, looks like we're waiting for the spell to wear off." She nervously bit her wand and laid down next to Joe. She held onto him, Doing what she could to grab all the love she knew he would show her. Marco watched the scene. He realized that unlike normal, this was not a romantic moment he should leave during. He walked towards Star and pat her head. Star began to cry as she lay there. Eventually going silent as she fell asleep.

Normally, Marco would leave, but something told him not to. As he thought about it, something seemed off. Star researched her sleep spell, and it's counter spell thoroughly before casting it. She had even tested it just yesterday on him to make sure. Maybe it was her nerves from seeing this Tom guy, but that didn't explain why Joe was barely reacting. It was almost like he was dead. As he thought further on that line his head began to pulsate with pain.

"Why does that keep happening?" He reached for his head before he heard the sound of something shattering. His eyes went wide. His first assumption was that a window was broken. But the shattering sound was lasting too loud. And it was from almost every direction at once. Almost like a glass dome had been destroyed. Suddenly, a pillar of fire appeared before him and out popped Tom, smiling statistically.

"Well, you're a strange one. I thought you would be asleep as well by now. But maybe that's a good thing. You did chop my arm off after all." Marco got In to his stance, but Tom already had him by the neck. He struggled to get free, but it was no use. "Normally I'd kill you, but today I'm feeling generous. I'm about to become betrothed to the Future Queen of Mewni. So I'll let you off, lightly." He punched Marco hard, knocking the wind out of his lungs as he dropped him. "Now then, for my prize." He walked over to the sleeping Star. Marco began to realize that Tom did something. Something horrible.

"Now then, if i remember right, placing the spider on her head should do the trick." He reached into his petticoat and brought out a large spider. Placing it on Star's head, it settled on top, grabbed her with it's legs, and bit down with its fangs. She immediately woke up, screaming in pain. Her hands reached up, trying desperately to knock the spider off, but Tom leisurely grabbed her hands, holding them in front of her.

"Be quiet Starship. It'll all be over soon." His smile was deceptively warm as her screaming slowly quieted, her struggles ceasing as she almost went limp, before popping up still and straight. "Much better. Now change into a nice dress. Preferably something red. Don't bother with underwear, you won't need it for long after the ball. Oh, and don't worry about your former boy toy. He'll be dead in a minute or two." The way he spoke sent a chill down Marco's spine. He wanted to stop this, but the pain kept him locked down. In a matter of minutes, Star was changed. If this was a better circumstance, he may have commented on her beauty, but sadly, he wouldn't get the chance.

"Okay Starship, your toy died, so it's time to go. Next stop, your new, permanent home." He smiled warmly at Star who showed no emotion. Her pink hearts had turned nearly invisible as her eyes looked distant. She took his hand, and in a flash of fire, disappeared.

Marco laid in shock for a time before he suddenly realized the pain was gone. His mind was clear. It all made sense. There wasn't a counter spell. It was a phrase. He got up and realized that he had smelling salts, and those would wake up Joe too, but so should the drowning. He walked over and felt his heart drop. Joe was pale. He wasn't breathing. He reached over and felt for a pulse. There wasn't one. He idly wondered what he could do. Without thinking, he spoke the code phrase, hoping beyond hope that it would wake the dead boy in front of him.

"I love you." A small flash extended out of the boy's body, but he did not move. Marco began to sob. He didn't know what to do. He always planned things out, but today he had nothing. No plan, no ideas, no best friends, and no help. He stopped. "Queen Moon." He immediately reached into his pocket and found. The bell. He set it down on the nightstand and searched again, finding his compact mirror. He opened it and practically screamed to call Moon. She picked up nearly instantly.

"Joe wha- Marco? Oh Mewni, what's happening?"

"This guy named Tom showed up, he did something to Star and kidnapped her. I think, I think he also killed Joe." He stared ad Moon's expression went cold. The call ended and before he could even start to think, he heard the familiar sound of a portal opening. He turned and saw Queen Moon, worried and in what appeared to be regal armor. She looked around and spotted Joe, checking on him, she confirmed Marco's story. Realizing the situation required speed, she went straight into authority mode.

"Marco, did the cretin say where he was going?" Marco felt the fire in her voice. She was on the warpath, and that steeled him to be as well. He sharpened his gaze as he met hers, the will to save Star, and avenge Joe filling him with strength.

"The Blood Moon Ball. He said this bell was our ticket in."

"We won't need it. I dare anyone to try and stop the Queen of Mewni." Moon walked over to Joe, and noticing the wand, grabbed it. It sparkled and changed into a small scepter with a diamond heart on top. With that she transformed. It reminded Marco of Star's mewberty form, and it scared him. "Don't worry Marco, this is the controlled version of mewberty. Now, let's go." She waved her hands and a portal appeared in front of her. They looked at each other, nodded, and walked inside. Unbeknownst to them, in the center of Joe's chest, a deep, blood red glow was growing, cracks appearing in his skin as it grew in brightness.

"See Starship, isn't it wonderful to relax and have a good time with a real man?" He looked over at Star, she was just the same as before, but far more sweaty, and covered in unicorn blood. He looked her over, enjoying the benefits mewberty had bestowed upon her body. She didn't speak or move, but that was fine. "Glad I didn't pick you for your mind Starship. I might feel bad about all this. But at least now your only worries will be my happiness, and making me an heir. No drama, no politics, no unworthy mortals. Heck, I'll make you a demon so we can be like this for millennia, just like grandpa and grandma!" He nearly squealed in delight as he looked around. If he had convinced Star to come he would have had to tone it down, but instead they got to be surrounded by death, torture, sex, and boiling unicorn blood. Perfection. Now all that was needed, was to wait for the blood moon to get in position.

Moon and Marco exited the portal inside of a throne room. Marco looked around in surprise for a moment, then started memorizing. He was here for a reason, and he was going to make sure he wasn't caught further off guard. He quickly spotted two individuals on their thrones, and a half-dozen guards standing around the room. He noticed the guards were returning to attention. Probably having been ready for an invasion, and stopping when Moon appeared. They eyed him warily as he took on details. Each soldier had a sword at their side and a spear in each hand. They wore black plate armor with no decorations. There was no flair to each one, almost looking like soot covered versions of medieval knights costumes. He could scarcely see each one had four eyes, in contrast to Tom's three.

Looking at the throne, he took in the details of the two totals. Ome was a human looking man. He was rather average looking. He had Brown hair and green eyes, and wore a red, decorated suit. On his head was a golden crown, the king. On his left was a competitively massive woman. She was easily thirty feet tall. She had large, black horns, three yellow eyes, massive muscles, and a black dress that showed off her hooved feet. She wore a golden crown on her head. The Queen.

"Queen Moon. We weren't expecting you today. What a surprise. Tell us, what do you need and why bring a human with you to our realm?" Moon bowed slightly as she whispered to Marco to kneel briefly, which he did.

"King and Queen Lucitor, my daughter has been forcefully taken to the Blood Moon Ball by your son, Prince Thomas Lucitor. He is also responsible for the murder of the one courting her, who had already received my blessing, as well as the okay from the Magical High Commission. As such, I am here to retrieve my daughter, and demand retribution for the damages caused by your son." She stood tall and proud, impressively trying to stare down the behemoth of a queen before her. The man speaking in her stead,

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Queen Moon. You see, after our discussion the other day, we decided this would make a great time to, make things easier. Poor Queen Moon, her hatred for monsters spilled over to a hatred of demonkind. "Marco noticed the guards moving towards them slowly, making very little sound as they did. Their spears slowly lowering to an attack position. "She invaded the demon realm on her own while her daughter was enjoying a lovely, consensual date with her longtime boyfriend, Thomas Lucitor." The guards surrounded the two of them and were awaiting some sort of signal. " While Moon was defeated, Star went into shock, locking herself away in the Lucitor Castle for protection. We will figure the rest out later." The guards moved as one and before Marco could dodge, Queen Moon blasted them all away. She stared the Lucitors down stoically.

"Marco, go find Star. Now." Without a thought Marco ran out of the throne room. King Lucitor stood up and started walking towards the back of the room.

"I'm not a fighter, couldn't win if I tried. So, I'll let you ladies settle this one." He leaned against the wall as his wife stood up.

"Wrathmelior smash!" She jumped in the air at Moon who prepared some magic. She honestly didn't think this would get so far. She placed her hopes in Marco, and began fighting the angry Queen.

Marco meanwhile was heading down an empty hallway. He reasoned that they wanted the truth of what was happening known by as few people as possible, so they must have vacated the wing of the castle. He took a turn and noticed a long hallway leading up to a large double door. There were two demons standing guard. He was about hi turn around when he noticed faint music from the hall. He guessed that the ball was in there.

"I need a disguise to get inside." He looked around and found several nearby doors. Opening one he noticed it empty with an armoire. He quickly bolted in and closed the door quietly. Checking the armoire, he found what looked like the outfit his father wore at the last day of the dead celebration. He put it on without question and was thankful when it was a close fit. He put on the convenient skull mask and the sombrero and left the room. He thought back to every espionage film he had ever seen and realized that he had to be confident. Regardless of what happened. He strode towards the door, the demons paying him little mind until he reached the door.

"Where is your invitation." Marco barely panicked but held it together. He had planned for this. Tom had specifically said the bell was his ticket in after all. He reached for it before realizing his error. He had it in his hoodie, but even then. He removed the item back in Star's room before leaving with Moon.

"Seems I lost it. But come on, let me in guys. It's not like it'll hurt."

"Nice try. Invitation only or- wait. Are you Jorge Teja?" Marco did not recognize the name, but he had to take this chance.

"Why yes, I am."

"Oh, pardon us sir. Been over a thousand years since you came to a Lucitor event. Please, come on in." The guards stepped aside and Marco stepped in unimpeded. He was immensely thankful these two had no idea how to do their jobs. As he entered he was hit by a massive amount of heat and horrifying sights that nearly made him puke. And after he looked again, he did.

"Yeah. They really skimped on the atmosphere lately. Brought a mortal girl down. Sorry it's such a snooze fest Jorge!" The door closed behind him as he looked around. He saw the decorations and heard the music, but he did his best to blind himself to it. He had to find Star. They had to get out of there. He pushed past variously shized, shaped, a d colored demons, looking for the girl, but having no luck. Until he bumped into his nightmare first hand.

"Who dares interu-." The demon stared at him for a moment before a massive smile took his features. "Great-demon uncle Jorge! You made it!" The demon wrapped him in a powerful, yet loving embrace. "Oh I'm so happy you could make it. I was worried you wouldn't have a chance to meet my future breeding-woman before the bonding." Marco felt disgusted at those words. Here he was, joyfully talking about turning one of the most amazing girls in the multiverse into a woman whose only purpose was to be bred. He wanted to punch him out then and there, but found his ticket to getting to Star.

"Yes, well, where is she Tommy?" He really,hoped he didn't just blow it.

"Ooooh. You haven't called me Tommy in years. Right this way!" Tom gently took his hand and guided him towards a secluded spot with several guards. "Here she is, Star Butterfly! Oh, check this out!" He let go and ran over to Star, lifting her dress up and revealing far too much of her lower body to him. "She might not be pure, but she looks tight as shit and look at that ass! I bet in a few years it will be the perfect cushion for me. Go on, have a feel!" Marco really, really didn't want to manhandle his best friend after her lover died next to her just before being turned into a breeding slave, but he had to play along. He was in too deep. As his hand felt Star's ass, he instinctively groped it. He had to admit, as messed up as it was, her ass did feel amazing.

"So, the big event is about to begin. In a few moments or so, the Blood Moon will start looking for the perfect couple! Then it will bond them for eternity! I'm so-" before he could finish, the entire building shook. Everyone looked in horror as suddenly, one of the walls began to cave in. The demons nearby ran for safety as the wall gave in, sending Wrathmelior sprawling across the floor. Everyone looked in shock as through the hole flew a dirty, but unharmed Queen Moon, still in her mewberty state.

"Surrender my daughter Wrathmelior, or this will not end with some repairable damage." She spoke calmly, but with such ice and venom that no one dared move or interject except for Tom.

"Mom! Okay. Jorge, stay here where it's safe. The bitch won't hurt her daughter so you're safest here. I'll go help mom. And no buts! You're too old to g

Fight at the level of Butterflys like you used to." With that, Tom flew away with fire burning out of his hands and feet. Marco, noting the distance he had to everyone, started to immediately try and rescue Star, whispering to her while trying to pull her along.

"Star! We need to get out of here. I don't quite know how yet, but it's dangerous here." She didn't react. "Star, it's me, Marco!" He removed his mask and the entire room turned slightly red. For a moment he considered that maybe he was in the spotlight, but looking around, it was simply a red glow around the entire room. As he continued to look, he spotted Tom rocketing back. This must have been the moon looking for the chosen couple. His masked dropped as he quickly grabbed her hand, looking to run away.

"It's okay Jorge, I'm here! Tom landed right next to him. He silently cursed his distractions as he let go of Star's hand. "Now I'll take her hand, the Moon will pick us, and then I'll help mom take down the Butterfly." Marco looked back and noticed several demons were now assisting Wrathmelior in fighting off Moon. He began to panic as Tom grabbed Star's hand. "Dance with me Star." Star moved stiffly to start dancing with Tom. A perfect,ballroom dance, but the light did not change a single bit. Tom was frustrated, but assumed it would just be a matter of time. Someone was getting chosen here today. And it would be them. He let himself go to imaginary music that was suddenly punctuated by a massive crashing sound. Every head turned towards the main entrance to the ball, and saw something that shouldn't be there. Moon quickly recognizing the figure and speaking without thinking.

"Joe?"

Joe awoke. He looked around and realized that something was off. Normally he felt Star's warmth next to him, but he didn't. He turned to face her, but came face to face with himself.

"Ah!" He screamed as he pushed away from the bed, but found he didn't go crashing to the floor, but instead went floating off into the room. He was very confused. Even more so when he spotted Star standing over his body, wand in hand. He realized Star did something, but quickly found himself distracted as his back slammed into the wall. He bounced off with little force, but a picture frame was knocked off the wall. He instantly knew which one it was. He often looked at it at night and remembered the day, it was when Olivia had been bitten. His revery was short lived as he watched Star walk over to the picture. He suddenly remembered what was going on. And called out to her.

"Star. What happened?" He watched her face light up into a small smile, before falling to sadness. "Oh please tell me she didn't kill me by accident. Or that this isn't an alternate reality. Then again this could be a dream." He thought for a moment before feeling lips against his cheek. Looking down he noticed Star kissing his cheek.

"Okay, so probably not dead, but maybe a dream." As she bounded off, be decided to follow her. He crashed into the wall and realized he had to go through the door. When he exited, he heard the bathroom door lock. He quickly made an effort to catch up, and miscalculated how he could move. He flew right into, then harmlessly through. The bathroom wall. He realized that perhaps the magic that made her room might stop him. Unless this was all a dream. That's when he realized she was in the shower. He paused for a moment. Was this considered peeping if he showered with her nearly everyday for the past three weeks? He thought about it as he inadvertently put his hand on a nearby tray rack, knocking off all the contents they had supported. Several bottles,began pouring out their contents down the drain. He heard Star curse and turned around.

There she was, in all her nude glory. It was weird seeing her like this when she couldn't see him. As she stepped into the shower she cursed. Apparently the endless hot water of the house had ended. He heard her complain as she stood in the water, adjusting to it. For a moment, he looked at her like normal, a great feeling spreading over him. That's when Star stood straight up, eyes wide. He thought for a moment that maybe she could see him. She took a step forward and called out if anyone was there.

"I'm here Star!" He said, but she didn't hear him.

"Calm down Star. No one here besides Joe would look at you like that, and that's because he would be helping you wash." He felt horrible. She trusted him like that and here he was. As Star finished with the trays, she grabbed her soap and began to wash herself. Joe couldn't help but notice she was missing quite a few spots. He instinctively tried to help her a few times, resulting in her dropping the soap, and giving him some very nice sight lines as she picked it back up. He tried writing messages, but unfortunately, it seemed no matter how,he wrote, it disappeared moments after his finger moved on. Eventually she got out of the shower, and he decided to head on down to the kitchen to see what Angie was making for breakfast.

He knew the moment he crosses through the floor what it was. Bacon pancakes. Honestly, he didn't care for them. Sure they were tasty, yes he learned how to make them for Star, but he really didn't care all that much. It was too much for him, but that worked out well for now. He enjoyed getting Star to sit on his lap so he could feed her. When she would try and return the favor he would pretend to be enthralled by the taste when really, he would get full on her love alone.

"Okay, plenty of bacon. Now to add the new secret ingredient to Star's syrup." Curious, he looked down to notice that Angie had three different syrups out. Chocolate for Marco, maple for herself, Rahpael and Joe, and a strawberry syrup for Star. As she reached for the container and poured it into Star's syrup, he realized exactly what it was. Olivia's fertility medication. Three tablet's worth. He blanched when he realized that everyday they had bacon pancakes, they had later gone at it like horny teenagers in love do. He then watched as Angie pulled out her phone and opened a calendar. It was called 'Star chart'. If his blood ran any colder it would have snowed inside as he realized Angie figured out Star's cycle, and was doing what she could to get Star pregnant. At fourteen.

As she gathered everything up, Joe panicked. He wasn't ready to be a dad! As she reached,the doorway he darted at her. As he forgot, he went right through her, but as he didn't know, she felt it. She immediately squeaked and dropped the plate. Ruining breakfast. Joe sighed in relief and watched as they decided to go elsewhere for breakfast. Confident nothing would happen, Joe decided to stay, traveling back to his and Star's room to reminisce. Nothing would happen to Star at school. As he reached their door, he heard a voice on the other side. He remembered everyone leaving so he bolted inside, finding a very average man in a red suit with brown hair and a golden crown standing above him, chanting in some otherworldly tongue. He watched as his body was engulfed in a blue flame. Suddenly. He was in immense pain, it felt like he was being burned alive! The chanting soon finished as the man wiped his brow.

"That,was exhausting. Glad I did it right. Would have been a pain if he woke up. But now, Star and her kingdom will be all ours. Good bye boy. We will never meet again." The man was quickly engulfed in flames and disappeared, leaving a confused, and in pain Joe. After a moment, Joe put together what was said about Star, and he knew what he had to do. He rushed out and flew as fast as he could towards the school.

As he did he saw a demon looking guy in front of Star and Marco, all of whom were surrounded by fire. The demon set something down in front of Star and backed away into an admittedly awesome looking carriage. As the carriage, and flames, disappeared, Joe rushed down, only to sharply turn and follow Star as she ran right back to his room. He watched what followed in shocked silence. As Marco and Moon left, he settled down near his own dead body. He was silent for a moment, but as everything settled in, he felt something stir inside him. It wasn't new. He was intensely familiar with had always been on the other side, never letting this one flow through him. He began to breathe faster. And a voice called out.

"Don't put out the fire, stoke it." He turned to notice him, a red him, sitting I'm the bed next to his own corpse, it's chest glowing a bright, blood red.

"Who are you and why should I care?"

"I'm the one who can put Star back in your arms." Joe was in his own face before he realized he moved. He felt warm. No, hot.

"Tell me."

"Hah. That's the spirit. Normally, I have to convince someone this isn't a trick. And no, it isn't. I have a vested interest in keeping you alive. And now, I have a vested interest in keeping you with her. Now, shake my hand, and let's go. I call shotgun, so take the wheel for now, kid." Joe reached out and grabbed his hand, and in a flash, the corpse stood up. His chest was still aglow in red, but now his skin seemed to crack open, as if a volcanic fissure was about to explode. He looked over at the bell and rang it. A demon carrying an elevator box appeared outside the balcony. Joe simply,moved inside the box and took a seat.

"What floor."

"... Wherever the hell the Blood Moon Ball is." The door closed and the box began to descend. Joe delta odd calm wash over him. He wasn't really calm, it just felt like right now, he couldn't be anything, not just yet. It took eight minutes to reach the bottom, the door opening to allow him out. He stared ahead at a long hallway and a pair of double doors.

"Please note that non-demon's require an invitation or they will be killed. Thank you for using demonvator. I will await you for your return trip." The demon went silent as Joe,walked up to the double doors. He heard a rumble in the distance as he got closer, but he paid it no mind. There was only one thing to do.

"Halt. Display invitation." He reflexively showed the bell and hammer.

"This is addressed to Star Butterfly, without her presence, no entry permitted."

"She came ahead."

"Then you cannot enter _mortal_. Now leave or die." Joe stood still for a moment his eyes locked onto the guard who had spoken. The guard raised his weapon then stopped, and began to tremble. His weapon fell from his grasp as his knees hit the floor. The next moment his head followed. He was unconscious. The other guard moved to strike, but similarly fell unconscious. Joe paused before looking at the door. This was no time for pausing. He walked up, and pushed on the doors. Nothing. He tried with more force. Nothing. He pushed hard, and this time, the doors flew off their hinges and into the middle of the room. Every set of eyes glued to him as they looked over him.

"How did a human just do that?" The entire room waited for what was to happen as Joe scanned the room, spotting Star and Marco with Tom in one corner. He slowly, and carefully walked towards them. Tom regained his senses as his anger began to erupt. He had controlled it thus far, but he WAS going to do this.

"I don't know how you came back, or hoe you got in here, but now, I'll make sure you don't come back. Guards, take him!" Tom's eyes glowed red at the command, and the guards that previously surrounded them charged for Joe. Marco watched in horror as Star watched in indifference. The guards reached Joe and prepared their weapons. Suddenly a gust of wind forced everyone's eyes closed, Moon shielding herself in case of a surprise attack. As the dust that was kicked up cleared, Joe was still walking forward, now amongst half the corpses of the guards. Tom instinctively took a step back as Wrathmelior,began to realize that especially now, Moon was not who she needed to worry the most about.

"H-how. Those guards are the best. They have killed hundreds of foes each. That's, that's impossible!" He finally decided that fighting was not an option as he grabbed stat's hand. "Jorge run! I'll get Star out of here and-" he was cut off as something hit him. Looking down he saw Joe's face, and then a part of his arm, going through his chest. Anyone who had thought to move now wished they were born a statue.

"Did Joe just kill Tom Lucitor?!" Marco shouted. The entire assembly hall began to scream as Wrathmelior jumped towards Joe. He returned the favor by tossing Tom right at her, slamming her hard into a wall. He looked back at Star and Marco. Slowly, he reached a hand towards Star's head, suddenly, the spider screeched loudly, before going limp and falling to the floor, dead. Star, for her part, seemed to almost wake up, until suddenly, she also began screaming.

"Joe! You're alive!" She gripped him in a hug and he gingerly returned it. Suddenly, the arena grew quiet. The red that had pooled throughout the room now shown as a spotlight over Star and Joe. They looked at each other in wonder as the glow from Joe's chest ceased. Slowly, he took her left hand with his right, placing his left hand at her hip, her right hand finding his shoulder. No sooner had they gotten into position did music started to play as if from the air itself. They slowly began to dance around the ballroom. Slowly, their expressions turned to smiles as they were lost in their own little world. Despite the war that was surely going to be, despite their prince possibly being dead, and despite the fact that one of the dancers was the one to attack him, everyone looked on in silent wonder and awe at the chosen couple. Bound forever in the ruby light.

As the dance became more enthusiastic though, someone rejected. In a flash of fire and a display of speed, Joe was knocked out of Star's grasp, and onto the floor. Just as he did, the light faded entirely. Tom looked up at the sky. His expression unreadable as he slowly lowered his gaze to Joe. His eyes seeming to fill with yellow light as it did.

"That dance. Was meant. For me!" In a raw display of anger, flames burst forth from the area, Tom rising up. He was preparing to launch an attack and without the wand, Star was helpless to stop him. Suddenly, a very large hand came crashing down on top of Tom. Looking up in surprise, the last person anyone expected to attack Tom stood.

"I do not know why I have acted the way I have. But I do know that something is amiss. Queen Butterfly. First, I hereby offer the unconditional surrender of the Lucitor Kingdom." For a moment, Moon had no idea how to respond, but years of being a queen, including being experienced in war, taught her how to regain her balance.

"I accept."

"Thank you your grace. Like I said, I do not know what happened to us. But we need help. Something affected us and made us your foes. Please, we need your help." Moon slowly lowered herself to the ground, the demons moving away and bowing.

"We will assist in looking into the issue. We will also discuss reparations for these actions in the future. For now, all I want to do is return home with family and friends."

"Granted without question your grace." Wrathmelior clapped her hands and the demonvator from Joe's trip in appeared in the hall. "Take them back safely." The demon wasted no time in setting down for its guests. Moon looked back and almost broke her regal posture to see Star and Joe hugging each other, whispering about how glad they are the other is alright. She walked up to them and helped them up. They refused to separate, but gladly walked towards, and into the box. Suddenly, Tom reappeared, his body aflame. Wrathmelior and Moon prepared to strike.

"Go. Hurry. I can only stop this so long! Don't let me hurt Jorge!" Surprised, Moon grabbed Marco and threw him inside, jumping in as the demonvator, with far more speed than normal, began to rise. Moon quickly turned as they ascended into some clouds, sure they weren't being followed.

"Does anyone have a compact?"

"Sorry, mine is in my hoodie down in a room in the castle."

"I didn't have a chance to grab mine before I was brainwashed."

"Mine is in my front right pants pocket. Moon, without any warning grabbed it and made a call, embarrassing Joe, but not disturbing his deathgrip on Star.

"Call Hekapoo." The phone rang once before a dampness looking woman answered the phone. She had a flame between her horns, a firey red and yellow dress, and far,too many curves to be natural.

"Well, didn't expect a call from one of you ju- Queen Moon! What's going on ma'am?"

"Hekapoo, I need a temporary emergency shutdown of interdimensional travel to and from the Lucitor Kingdom. I am almost out with my daughter, her boyfriend, and her guide. I need the MHC to begin finding out what on Mewni happened down there tonight. I'll explain the details later. Is this clear?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm on it now. I'll make an exception for the demonvator after inspection."

"Good. Also send a few patrols to Earth. I want to make sure they remain safe."

"Gotcha. I'll station six clones around the house to keep an eye out." Moon nodded and hung up the phone.

"Thank you. That's going to be a headache, but something happened down there and we need to find out what. Are you three going to be okay?" Marco and Joe nodded, Star was too busy poking Joe.

"You are real, right?" Star asked, trying to sit on his lap.

"As far as I am aware." Joe answered, shifting himself to make Star more comfortable.

"But, you were dead for so long." Star replied.

"Yeah. I think that was the work on a human guy that snuck into the house after you guys left." Marco looked at Joe suspiciously.

"How would you know about that?"

"Long story. Short answer is, I was a ghost like, the entire time after Star cast her spell on me.

""What!?" I'm so sorry Joe! I didn't mean to." Joe kissed her cheek lovingly.

"I know. But uh, sorry about the soap, and sorry, not sorry about the pancakes. I am also getting rid of your syrup." Star pushed away and looked at Joe with an immense amount of confusion and embarrassment.

"You, wait, what? Why? Also, that was you? You owe me a show later!" Joe dryly chuckled as Star sat,down harder, intentionally shaking her,hips on him.

"We'll, my sister apparently gave Mrs. Diaz her fertility medicines, and put it in your syrup. Probably to help, us." Star was red as the box stopped.

"Top floor, everyone out." They all exited onto Star's balcony, the demonvator descending into a fiery, swirling portal.

"So They've been trying to, get me pregnant?"

"Yes. I think that's why all my condoms seem to always be damaged right around this time of the month." Joe did a horrible fake cough, but Moon was unamused.

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat. I need to talk to Angie about drugging my daughter,before I head up this emergency meeting I just called. I will leave a line open for you all. Simply say, 'Call Moon Emergency' and I will pick up. Got it?" Everyone nodded as Marco stretched widely.

"Then let's hit the hay. I'm tired." Everyone agreed as Marco and Moon walked out, Moon leaving the wand on Stars nightstand. Just as the door closed Star picked up the wand and blasted the room, coating it in magic.

"And that's an anti-portal/entry/sound barrier. So now we are all alone." Joe looked to his side as Star tackled him onto the bed. "For the record, I don't approve of drugging, but uh, I'm not opposed to a kid. But regardless, after seeing you rescue me like that, I need to give you a proper thank you before I get mah show." She smiled coyly at Joe as he stared back up. He smiled lovingly at her. He was so afraid she would go back to being a broken girl after tonight, but she didn't. She had grown stronger. And,he loved that. As star began to rip off his clothes, neither noticed the house being bathed in a red glow.

"... It seems Glossaryck was correct." A young sounding male voice said.

"Told you."

"Ah! Glossaryck! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I didn't."

"Regardless. It's clear now that the boy has the talent and the mindset. Now we need to gently guide him to mold that power, and perhaps send him to get one of those wonderbolts or something. He'll need an edge."

"I agree. I have a script running now. He'll be in good hands."

"Glad to hear it. We are also preparing the others. Let's hope this goes well. How will you patch up the Lucitor's though? We sort of backed into a wall on that one."

"Believe it or not, I got that covered too thanks to the One. Just leave it to me without worry unless I tell you to worry."

"Don't forget Glossaryck, we aren't like them. We aren't 'children'." The voice boomed and disappeared. Leaving Glossaryck alone.

"I won't let you do to him what you always do. I'll save them. I promise. Hmph. Why not come up with better lies." With that, Glossaryck disappeared.

**A/N**

**Well, that was a marathon. Wrote it all in one sitting. Now we know Joe can kick a surprising amount of ass, but don't worry. That level won't ever become common. Now a much more reasonable level however…**

**Either way, next up, is still not Toffee. Yeah, next episode introduces us to our first true,big bad, but not here. He will be mentioned, but honestly, I don't see fortune cookies happening any differently. I got plans you see. Now, my next major thing is that episode, and that's, okay, I can work with that. Alrighty then. Until next time, when we move forward by stopping time!**

Extra scene.

"Okay, good night Queen Mo-"

"She cast a sound proofing spell. We can scream without alerting them. Come on now. I do have a tight schedule now." Marco nodded as they headed towards his parent's bedroom. She knocked in an odd pattern. Shortly after Angie half,dragged them inside the bedroom, the only illumination coming from a small pocket mirror displaying Olivia.

"So, how are the lovebirds doing?" Olivia was bouncing around, smiling happily.

"Better now. Joe, died again today. He, something is going on, and we aren't sure. Star seems to be taking her new trauma in stride though. Moving on to brighter news, they were selected by the Blood Moon. Oh, you can see it slightly through the heavy curtains." They looked to the side, turning the compact as well, to see a full res light on the edges of some very heavy curtains. Making Angie confused and concerned.

"And that means?"

"Those who dance under the Blood Moon are blessed with great love, but those selected like they were are bound for eternity!" Moon said elated. The room erupted into a quiet cheer.

"So, is Star pregnant then?" Olivia asked, her eyes far too big for her own good.

"She might be working on it now." Marco nodded, but felt the need to interject.

"But we need to be careful. Thanks to an accident Joe found out about the fertility drugging in the syrup. They can't find out about the rest of the fertility drugs, and if they ever find out about the aphrodisiacs or pheromone generators, I doubt they'll be happy about it." They all nodded with Olivia speaking up.

"Well, Joe has another appointment soon, so we might want to cool it for a while on the medicine. Just stick with the natural stuff."

"Shall we conclude the Stoe meeting? I have a few more meetings to get to, it is getting very late, and I want to get some sleep tonight." Everyone agreed and began going their separate ways, Moon heading towards the hallway to portal out, she stared at Star's door. "I really hope this resolves soon Star. I don't want to separate you two just yet, or ever." With that she walked into the portal, it closing behind her.


	10. Chapter 10: Say Freeze!

Just another day. That's what today was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be the last day of their lives, but the possibility was here now. Joe looked idly at Marco and Jackie, the former trying to cheer up the latter as she almost broke down completely. He was having moderate success. Joe then looked towards Star, furiously scanning through her book of spells, Glossaryck floating in perfect stillness. If only he hadn't gone for that damn run.

*earlier that day*

"Where's Joe?" Star was confused. In the past week since the Blood Moon, Joe had been acting weird. At first he seemed unaffected, but every morning before he smelled strongly of sweat. Not that Star disliked it, but, it was unusual. He seemed far more awake than usual, always greeting her as if he had been up for at least a few minutes. She was worried, but trusted him to say if something was wrong. Today though, she had planned to find out what was going on and used a spell for a personal alarm. It had worked, but Joe was missing.

"S-sorry Star, I uh, honestly haven't a clue. M-maybe he's downstairs making you breakfast. You should go check it out. Like. Now." Marco smiled nervously. Star would normally have let that pass, but Marco and Joe both hiding something seemed awfully suspicious.

"And what, pray tell, are you hiding mister?" She grinned deeply as the boy in front of her went wide-eyed. She kept herself as composed as possible, trying to emulate her mother, as she stared down Marco. She was hoping to catch Joe doing something for her, never doubting her lover's loyalty.

"N-nothing Star. And I really have no idea what Joe is up to. N-now if you'll excuse me, I uh, need to start my morning routine and I don't want to be naked around you. Parents may get the wrong idea."

"Marco, school isn't for another two hours. You're usually trying to be punctual for Jackie, but this is a little ridiculous. What's going on?" Star suddenly had an idea. The boy clearly wanted her out of the bathroom, and if romcoms where any hint, he would move to block her from whatever he wanted to hide. So she started to wander a bit. Marco, slowly giving himself away as he moved to block her.

"Seriously Star, nothing is going on! Now please leave so I can shower in-"

"In the closet huh? Classic." Marco realized his mistake too late. He moves to stop Star but the girl was already at the closet.

"Wait, Star!" He reached her as she opened the door.

"Ah, ha!" She looked in the closet, her face a triumph. Her eyes then darted to Marco, then the closet. Then to Marco. Then the closet. Her face fell slowly into shock as she continued the pace. Finally, in a mad blush she stared into the closet.

"Uh, hi?" The feminine voice called out to Star. She looked at the naked young woman in front of her. She had platinum-blonde hair with a single aqua highlight. Her green eyes were nervously looking at Star like a deer in headlights. She had freckles and tanned skin all over, surprisingly full breasts and figure, and absolutely no clothing. Suddenly, Star began to grin widely. All her worries momentarily forgotten.

"Why hello there Jackie Lynn-Thomas. Why don't you put on a bathrobe and come on out of there, hmm?" Star's excited grin put a blush on Jackie was she did just what Star said. Star meanwhile, was immensely happy.

"So, um, Star, this isn't what-"

"So how long you two been together?" Both Marco and Jackie where in shock. They had both expected Star to be okay with them, but it was still surprising to see it actually happening.

"A, uh, couple weeks now. You see, after seeing how well things went for you and Joe, I decided to throw out my own plans to get Jackie and just, talk to her. It went really well, and uh-"

"How long has it been physical? Cause if it wasn't last night, props on keeping it hidden." Both Jackie and Marco went red.

"Not, really comfortable talking about it dude. Uh, just, like, we're together so-"

"Were you two about to shower together? Cause that's adorable. Joe and I shower together all the- Joe! Almost forgot. I really need to find him! Something may have happened or-" Jackie put her hand on Star's shoulder for a moment, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Relax. Joe wouldn't do something to get himself into danger, you know that." As if remembering where she was and what had just come to light, she backed off.

"But he has! He came to my rescue before, and he-"

"Wouldn't do something stupid unless it meant saving you." All eyes snapped to the door to see Joe standing there, sweaty and in a tracksuit. "So, finally found out about Jackco?"

"You knew?" Marco looked horrified.

"I may only have one reference besides you, but my nose works Marco. Really should wake up earlier and shower together. Makes it easier to hide the smell of sex. Also, your room reeked of it the last few days." Star and Joe looked smuggly at Jackie and Marco who were now very, very red in the face and avoiding their gaze. "But seriously, grats. It's about time you found love."

"Oh, uh, thanks, Joe. We, uh, should probably get clean, huh?"

"I'll say. School assembly in half an hour." Three sets of eyes suddenly landed on Joe. Well, for the three of us. Remember, student council holiday budget plans?"

"Oh no. There's no time for us to all shower!"

"Joe, where were you and also, I really like your smell right now!"

"Oh god, I reek of sex! I don't think they'll buy it if I say I was boarding, right?"

"Wait! Star! Do you have a spell to reverse or stop time?" Marco seemed to light up for a second.

"Uh, maybe?"

"Please girl! We need your help!" Jackie asked. Seeing the usually confident girl being awkward was a new one for Star, suddenly she was feeling the urgency of a matter that really didn't involve her.

"Uh." Star quickly reached for her wand, sitting on the counter with its charger plugged in.

"Wait, myabe stopping time isn't the best-"

"Easy Peasy Time Freezy?" Though said questioningly, the wand glowed as magic poured out from the wand. They all looked around, not noticing any change.

"Hmm. Guess it's shower time for you two. I can show up late. Can easily say I wanted to smooch Star before going… woah." During Joe's talk, Jackie had moved and knocked over some towels from the closet, only for them to stop midair.

"Uh, guess you can all get ready to go to school now?" Star grinned sheepishly. Marco however…

"School? No Star, it's a freeze day! We can go and do whatever we want!" The four teens started smiling.

"Just remember we gotta smell like not sex when this is over!"

"Oh come on Joe, what do you take me for?"

"As one man who has sex on the regular, to another, we are teenagers." Jackie sounded a little upset as she spoke directly to Joe.

"Joe, it's rude to make assumpti-"

"'Oh Marco, is round six going to be the wake up round, or the wet round?'" Joe smiled smuggly as he internally counted seconds. After a moment where everyone seemed frozen, Joe spoke again. "Trust me, Star's not exactly a slouch on that front either. I'm, honestly surprised she hasn't tested positive yet."

"I used a spell to protect myself after day one. Knocked me up first day by the way stud." She smiled as Marco and Jackie looked between them.

"Point being. We're teenagers in love, and besides Jackie's parents, all of ours are trying hard to make sure Star is a mother before we say our vows."

"Just a little longer My King."

"So yeah, no judgment here. Let's just have a fun time, regardless of what we do, and clean up for the ceremony. Worse comes to worst, we can shower in the gym." Jackie asked.

"So, you've thought about this?"

"Well, yeah. I'm a horny teenager. I've thought about plowing Star just about everywhere. Less now that they aren't feeding me aphrodisiacs every day. But still. Teenager."

"Huh. Guess that's, fair. But still. You wouldn't bang in front of her parents." Marco looked smugly at first, but as Star and Joe shared a knowing smile he wilted fast. "No way."

"With every dinner eventually devolving into a discussion of sex lives, I'm sure they almost wouldn't mind. Well, Moon wouldn't. River might kill me. But seriously, I know way too much about sex from them."

"Dude, tmi." Star decided to chime in before things got anymore awkward for people.

"Well sorry it was an easy subject to, 'distract' them with." Star shivered looking partly guilty as she remembered a few times he had distracted her parents from some, questionable questions. "Then let's get off the subject, go to the park, and start messing with people." Everyone eagerly nodded and headed downstairs, where Joe made a not unexpected discovery.

"Guys, they know."

"Who knows what?" Star asked.

"Marco's parents know he's with Jackie."

"How do you know that?" Jackie said, stumbling onto the scene.

"There's a cake with 'Good job mijo' on it and a very elaborate picture of you two in your bed."

"Dude, your parents are weird." Jackie chuckled, taking this surprisingly well.

"I'm leaving before anything else happens. I'll be outside by the street." Without setting foot in the kitchen, Marco left the house, clearly disappointed.

"And both your parents are here too Jackie." With that, Jackie sprinted in, finding indeed that her parents were both there, one actively taking away empty drug bottles away, the other poking tiny, tiny holes in her and Marco's condoms. Looking around she found a list, comparing her monthly cycle, to her meet ups with Marco, to 'planned fertility boosts'.

"Oh my God. Marco cannot find out about this."

"Okay, seriously, until I came here only my sister was this obsessed with having a baby. What the fuck."

"She's not obsessed Joe. Your sister is nice."

"Star, she literally dates men to get pregnant. She doesn't care if the baby daddy stays or goes, so long as she gets pregnant once in her life. If not for me, she would have tried to even bed you."

"But, that's pedophilia!"

"Like I said, all that matters is a baby. One. She's been trying for two years without success, so she jumped on the Star express as a distraction. Only thing she won't try with is a taken man."

"That, explains a lot actually. Now, let's go have fun! Especially before more horrible realizations!" The three of them quickly nodded and left, quickly running into Ludo. He was halfway out of a portal. The four looked at him, and suddenly Marco and Star got huge grins on their faces. They walked over and began to pass around Ludo's hat, taking pictures in funny poses. After a moment, they decided to make it so that he wouldn't want to stick around. Mainly, placing a rake under his foot. His army wasn't behind him yet, so Star decided to try something. She set up an arial narwal blast, timed to land just after Ludo would step away from the rake. It was horrible, yet genius.

"Star. Why go that far to hurt this little, kappa i think it is?"

"He wants to steal the family wand and use it for evil. Why wouldn't I stop him?"

"So, he wants your family wand to take over the universe or something?"

"For monsterkind yeah. He hates us mewmans. Wants us gone for supposed crimes against monsters. All baloney. Anyway, into more fun!" With that, Star grabbed Joe and Marco, the latter grabbing Jackie as they began to race throughout the town. They stacked dogs in the park, ate picnics on top of cars. Had sex in the open, had sex on the principals desk. Set up Brittany and Jeremy for fun revenge after a few fiascos. And finally. Found good hiding places for condoms around their various houses. Until finally showering and agreeing to head to the meeting.

"And you two are fine with being outed as a couple?"

"Dude, time may be stopped, but we've had a blast the last few days, talking and learning about each other, I think we're all ready for that. And again, nice job on the washing aspect. Too bad it took forever to find everything for a dry bath."

"Yeah, well, let's just hope everything goes well when you two kiss in front of the school. And remember, it's just you saying 'I love you', but physically." The newly minted couple nodded as Star raised the wand.

"Easy Peasy Time Unfreezy!" When nothing happened, the four got worried. Then Marco freaked out.

"Oh no, how do we restart time!?" Jackie fed on his panic.

"Oh man, none of us thought of it! We have to fix this!" Marco lost it. Normally, Joe would try and calm him down, but unlike normal, this had destabilized Joe. Their lives could all be in jeopardy and there was no one to help them. And that did scare Joe a lot. Thankfully, one girl had her head still on her shoulders.

"Calm down dudes. Surely Star has learned her magic from somewhere, maybe a book she has will know what to do." Star immediately kissed Jackie. Not on the cheek, but on the lips. This set her three companions hearts pounding as they watched her pull away in the same instant.

"Good call Jacks! Now let's go look, maybe Glossaryck knows the way!" As she bounded ahead, the other three regained their composure.

"Marco, babe, I have two questions for you."

"Yeah."

"First, should I feel ashamed I liked that kiss?"

"... No."

"Good. Great. Awesome. Uh, next question, and don't be mad please."

"... I won't be."

"... Would you be upset if I nailed that." Marco and Joe needed no time to contemplate their answer. The very idea eliciting a strong response.

"Not a bit." The three looked around, and suddenly felt uneasy.

"Wait, why are the three of us so, okay with that. You two just got together, and you're okay with her sleeping with another person?"

"Joe, as weird as it is, I'm okay with Jackie sleeping with you."

"Marco! I, well, can't say I didn't think about it… um…"

"Something is wrong. Because right now, I'm okay with that, and the opposite too." With Joe's remake the three of them looked at each other. The insanely sexual nature would have been weird before, but without being potentially drugged up, this was them. Shortly after that the three of them silently headed back to Marco's house to meet up with Star. The thoughts heavy on their minds.

A few hours had passed and the teens were eating a freshly made cake. Marco decided to get one after the near cataclysmic breakdown everyone had as the reality that this might be how They die set in. Thankfully, Marco was able to make a cake, time being stopped did not stop the man. And they rather enjoyed it, but as Jackie took another bite, a memory of days prior brought a chill down her spine.

"This cake is good Marco. How'd you make it?" She really, really hoped he wasn't about to say he hadn't.

"I didn't." Jackie eyed him nervously. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Joe stopped mid-bite, and Star looking up from her book, scared.

"Oh, right. We're did you find it?"

"Downstairs. I tried to make one but we had none of the usual ingredients and when I borrowed some from next door, I couldn't get any consistent heat source to work. Then I saw my parents baking a cake and-"

"Oh god. Marco, that caked was spiked with aphrodisiacs and fertility drugs!" Marco started to cough and spit out what he could of the cake. Suddenly the teens found themselves quite warm in the room. Surely, surely this wasn't something they couldn't overcome.

"I'll check what they had. Could be something easy, subtle." Joe suggested. He hoped the label, combined with a few books the parents may own, may tell them exactly what they wanted to know.

"I'll join you! Jackie said instantly. The tension in the air was palpable, but maybe, maybe they wouldn't have to worry. Maybe he was right, but she needed to know now. Not later. The pair made their way downstairs as Marco sprinted for his room. The plan was if nothing else Jackie would go to him while Joe would go to Star. Might as well be with your buddy, right?

As the pair made it downstairs, they were visibly flushing. Jie could feel his erection standing tall and Jackie's shorts were visibly wet. It had been less than ten minutes from first bite. How potent was this stuff?

"Okay, we, we need to f-find the bottle before we lose it." A loud moan from upstairs proved Marco had lost his battle. He was furiously masturbating and it wasn't helping either of the two teens in the kitchen. Realizing they were going to lose soon, they found the bottle.

"Let's see. Hah. Vigirol Ultra DX Extreme. Joe, look it up, now." Jackie was barely managing not to finger herself then and there.

"Let's see. Huh. Ah, uh. Found it! It, oh god. No counter measure, and since we ate the whole cake give or take I assume a quarter of a bottle each. What's a dose?"

"It says each bottle has a sixteen doses. For adults."

"So, estimating that, in god no. Please no. Jackie, get to Marco, now… Jackie?" Joe managed to turn around as lips met his. Joe lost all attempts at stopping as lips crashed together and they gave in. He grabbed Jackie's head and brought it full force against his lips as her hands found his shirt bottom. In a matter of seconds, she was trying to remove his shirt, and undershirt, the sheer pain of the wires being pulled dragging them out of his stupor.

"What are those? Also, nice abs." Jackie went wistful for a moment before suddenly going back to reality. "Seriously, what are the wires?"

"Long story short, they protect me and keep me alive. Just, gotta detach the wires before making love."

"Wait, if they keep you alive, isn't that more important than having more fun sex?"

"If you only knew the half of it. Suffice to say the only real benefit, is it hurts me less and scares Star less. But I ramble. Let's go to our lovers, before we go back under." Jackie needed no other words as she practically flew out of the kitchen. Joe's eyes wandered to the parents, before he sprinted out of the room. He barged into Star's room only for reason to be barred entry. He saw Jackie had missed her intended target, instead her she was, on top of a naked Star, her tongue in a massive war with Star's as stat helped Jackie out of her shorts and panties. Drugged up, and seeing two delectable blondes making out nude with a perfect shot at their babymakers, he had no chance. He was out of his clothes in record time as he practically leapt at the two girls.

They squealed in delight against each others lips as his hands and mouth began roaming their bodies. Jackie moaned in delight as Star inched down and began to kiss at her neck. Joe meanwhile was kissing on the back of her neck, opposite of Star. They were practically kissing through her body and she shuddered at the realization. Suddenly, she was flipped, Joe and Star on top of her like predators. With excitement in her eyes she nodded, approving whatever was to happen so long as it happened soon. She blinked and they were gone. Then she felt them suckling on her breasts.

For years she knew her breasts were the envy of boys and girls alike. Heck, they got her dates with high schoolers while in early middle school. They had their ups and downs, but right now, with the two lovers currently devouring her breasts, she would call it an up. The two of them never caused her pain either, never suckling too hard, but always driving her crazy. Crazy enough to achieve orgasm.

It wasn't the strongest she had felt, Marco currently reigned on that front, but it was the first time it was solely from above the waste. She ride it out, her temporary lovers kissing her breasts lightly, when a third set of lips found her. She breathed in shock and looked down. Marco was eating her out. Suddenly, she came again. Despite trying a few times, Marco couldn't eat her out before, always using his hands instead. She then noticed Star was stroking off Joe. Then they were kissing. She was in heaven, a show while getting eaten out. She came again on the spot. She came to her senses moments later to another show, Joe was fucking Star, and Marco was looking for permission to fuck her. Jackie couldn't stop the feelings as her legs spoke for her, pushing him inside a bit before nature made him slam inside.

She loved it. She loved it rough. Truth be told, she was a masochist. A dark masochist. She fantasized about scenarios where guys she tempted lost control, and took her in an alley. Of course she didn't want to really be raped, but the entire feeling of having her body used that way made her very excited. As her conscious mind came back to reality, she realized she had reached a state of nirvana. She felt all the pleasure, but it was, in another spot. She moaned, she groaned, but she was lucid. She looked all around. And she had an idea.

She wanted this. She wanted to fuck, and be fucked. She wanted a threesome with these two studs. She wanted then to bind her, and use her holes to pleasure themselves, spilling their virile seed inside her until she looked pregnant, planning it on a day to ensure that, nine months later, they would name her child before repeating the process. She came hard around Marco. She only now realized that he has already come and that there was a body next to her. Star's. She looked to the side to see Star's fucked silly face. She couldn't help but make out with it. As she felt Marco slam home one last time, she felt herself filling up, judging from Joe, he could go on a bit longer as he filled Star up, her body and tongue going limp as she nearly passed out. She looked at Jackie, smiling, before saying the words that solidified Star as Jackie's BGFF (best girlfriend forever).

"I'm done Joe, if Jackie's up for it maybe she wants to try your dick out." Jackie came again as she kissed Star, the girl passing out after a moment of returning the kiss. Jackie then looked to Marco. He simply looked at her questioningly. This was probably her one chance to have that dance. She was going for it.

"Marco, mind letting Joe in through my backdoor?" She smiled limply as Marco drew close, then with amazing skill gently, yet quickly, put her on top of him. Joe needed no further notice she could tell as she felt a warm, wet mass at her backdoor. She had always been curious, but curiosity was about to give way to fact. She expected him to thrust to the hilt, but while there was force, there was also gentleness. She enjoyed it as there was enough force to satisfy her fetish, but enough gentleness to prevent harm. As he hilted, she realized that she was very full, and she had. In fact, the more well endowed partner.

She had no time to adjust as Marco was now recovered and he began to take her. Shortly after, Joe began to move. It was amazing, the feeling of fullness as their thrusts were times differently. Sometimes they were alternatively in or out. Other times they were in synch. The sensation drove her wild, ending when she saw Joe and Marco kiss beside her. She passed out with a shudder.

The next time they awoke was very, very awkward. The four took three hours to talk to each other. And then almost a full day to agree that nothing was wrong with it. They had been drugged. It didn't mean they didn't enjoy it, but apparently Joe was not a fan of going at it with Marco. Joe had to run to a store afterword for some birth control meds to help prevent their mistake from learning to crawl in nine months. Not that he called it that. When they finally truly talked about it, they decided to do the easiest thing. Chalk it up to the parents. They would be getting back at them, meeting be damned. But for now, they all discovered a bit about the others, with Jackie and Marco learning about Joe's heart condition.

Before further questions could be raised though, Star finally found the solution. One that would fix everything. They just had to push a wheel. How hard could that be?

"You guys ready?"

"Ready as ever dude."

"Let's get this going, I'm gonna make the parents sweat a bit when we get back."

"Let's go already!" Marco merely sighed as he opened a portal to a place called the Planes of Time. As They entered, Joe,looked surprised.

"Huh, looks like a Salvidor Dali painting."

"Neet. Now where's that wheel?" Star looked for less than a second before spotting it. "There!" In an instant they all bound over. Smiling as they reached their goal.

"So, now we push?" Marco looked to Star who got in position. Following her lead soon all four teens were pushing hard, the wheel not even budging. After a moment, Star became furious.

"Oh for the love of, grrr." She aimed the wand at the wheel, only for a fifth voice to speak up.

"Magic won't move the wheel. Only the magic of tosies will!" They looked to the source and spotted a tall blue man with a long beard and a robe messing around with some rocks. "Greetings from the Land of Time. My name is Father Time."

"Uh. Hi. Where trying to restart time." Jackie said, trying her best to roll with everything going on.

"Oh. You must be the fellows who knocked me off of the wheel then. Thanks for that!." Thr man began to look closely at one rock as Star began to speak.

"So, you're the person that pushes the wheel. Look, I'm sorry, but we really need-"

"Oh look at that Rocknaldo! We need to, uh, do the thing!" In an instant the man bounded off, leading the teenagers and an hours long pursuit of him. Finally, they reached an odd building, deciding to take a break. They had just crossed the river,of,time and the four of them were in various parts of their lives. Marco was practically a toddler, Jackie was in her forties and looking like a milf, Star was busy being in her early twenties and being beautiful, while Joe was nearly seventy, and sporting an awesome eight pack, and a mediocre beard.

"Man, you two dudes can move. Joe, Marco, what's your secret?"

"Karate."

"I don't sleep."

"Huh? But Joe, you sleep as much as I do."

"Star, do you remember the sleepover where you walked down the stairs thinking about, uh, never mind, but,you remember what I said that night?" Star looked at Joe. Did, did he know what she was planning on doing that night?

"Uh. Something about being the same?"

"Yes. I don't sleep much. At first, it was due to nightmares, but eventually it was just how I was. When I couldn't get to sleep I'd become board. After Argute's I picked up the habit of reading or working out to prevent boredom. Side benefit of working out, it makes my heart more resilient to damage. Meaning fewer heart attacks."

"So that's why you disappeared. I was worried you were trying to impress me or something."

"I, sort of was. After the Blood Moon Ball fiasco I realized how much of a liability I've become. While, yes, it was your fault I was such an easy target, I made you worry. By exercising and working on myself I can stabilize my sleep schedule. I can, better myself to protect you, orbat least, help stop you from having to do so much for me. I love,you Star, and I want to be the best me I can for you. And you can't say you don't enjoy my abs, and wouldn't enjoy better abs." Star gave Joe a peck on the cheek as she hugged him. He blushed at the contact as Jackie kissed Marco's cheek. They walked inside and their bodies shifted back to normal. Everyone but Marco slightly saddened,by the change.

"Okay, now,where are we?" They looked around to spot various monitors, all pointing to various points in time. Marco looked at one and struck a victory pose. They all chuckled as a strange object came down before Marco. It scanned him as a series of events started to play. It showed him throughout his life, trying to impress Jackie, or learning karate, with a few sidesteps to other foreign exchange students or family members. It was a joyful trip overall as Jackie looked both happy, and a little scared. Star immediately recognized it. Marco had put Jackie on a pedestal and it was doomed to fail.

Then it swapped to Jackie. It showed her learning to skate and skateboard. It showed her learning to do some tricks. It showed her dating a few boys. It showed her crying over a few boys. One showed her looking wistfully at Marco just the year previous. It was obvious to everyone she recently developed a crush too. Marco,looked to her as she cried, motioning she wanted to talk. But saying later.

Then it moved to Star. Marco and Joe tensed as on the screen was at first displayed a happy girl playing with her dad. Then a sad girl, practically kidnapped by a woman who looked similar to Moon. Then came one where she was bounding all over the place, a bandage,over,her head and eye, her father doing his best to let her stay just out of reach. Then it showed her failing to sit still in lesson after lesson with various tutors and her own mother. Then came Ponyhead and Tom. They were playing happily together, honestly looking like good friends. Then it showed a passed-out Ponyhead, and a clearly out of it Star. Joe felt murderous rage boil in him as in thr few seconds of screen time the image had, he saw Star's panties in Tom's pocket, and a few dribbles of white from,between her legs. He was on the mirror with Moon, the woman looking furious. The next image was St. O's. Star looked terrified as her mother and father pushed her towards a guard. Her mother disappointed, and her father saddened.

The next images sent Star shaking. First was her getting slapped while several guards were yelling at her. The next one showed her getting raped while again, getting slapped. The scene happened a few times, each time showing blood between her legs. Twice it showed Moon visiting, River not present. For the third, it showed her getting doctored up, chemicals being injected into her back as they prepared her for her mother in the next room. The next scene showed her in a chair, her eyes held open, and her body clamped down. She was struggling causing some plastic,tubes filled with chemicals to shake around. Behind her was an older woman with silver hair, smiling evily. Then was a picture of her in the same room, naked and emotionless as guards were trying to grt one last fuck out of her as Moon and River stormed in. Then it shifted to them holding her, crying. There were several scenes,like that, Star slowly looking like the girl the friends met that day. The next scene was them crying in a carriage, before entering a very familiar school. The next few scenes Joe was very familiar with, and it showed him how much she needed him. How much better she was. The girl laid herself on his chest, Jackie and Marco giving him a warm smile through tears. Then Joe stated horrified as the scan of him finished.

"Well, at least we know it won't get too bad. Right?" Star looked up and regretted her words as she looked at Joe. She could hear his heart pounding wildly in his chest as his legs gave out. They looked to the screen as an image played out.

A cloaked figure appeared at a snowy doorstep, placing a baby in the stoop. They easily guessed the baby was Joe, and suddenly they gasped as the figure took the baby's arm, and snapped it. The figure dashed away as the baby cried. Their horror increased as it became implied that days passed before a passerby found the baby and took it to a shelter. The next image showed a very young boy at an orphanage, trying to play with some older kids who shrugged him off. Then an older woman came and took him away to a couple who were very happy on seeing him.

"Those must,be the Ackleman's."

"No." The group had no time to ponder this as the next scene played out. It was the same spot as earlier, the man stormed in and threw the young Joe at the elderly woman, knocking her down. The woman then walked in with a gas can. The next scene showed Joe and a few badly burnt kids being treated by an emt as several zipped up bags lay nearby.

"They were my first adopters. Had me for three days before they did that. Of the seventy people there that day, only myself and four other kids survived." The Look of stunned horror from his friends gave him a cold comfort. They hadn't the foggiest idea.

The next scene played out. Joe was older now, no burn scars from the fire. A fact that surprised Marco and Jackie. But as they watched, they became entranced by the happy smile the two shared. The next few scenes were that way as well. The two growing older together.

"Her name was Elena. She became my unofficial little sister at the time. She was the first to,never get unreasonably mad at me. I loved her. A lot." They looked at the screen. They didn't know her, but surely, something horrible was about to happen. Like clockwork, the scene changed. Marco and Jackie realized suddenly that they each had a hand,on Joe's shoulders as he began to shake, his arms crushing Star in a deathgrip as he was crying.

"That's them. The Ackleman's." They looked again to see Joe and Elena getting adopted by a nice looking couple and an older daughter. They assumed it was Olivia and she was definitely about ready to graduate high school. The next few images showed years passing, Joe and Elena looking older as the couple doted on them. Olivia was rarely there, but could be seen moving books. Then suddenly the images changed to Joe as a young boy, in his bed. He was getting up and Joe began to chant.

"Go back to,sleep and it won't happen. Go back to sleep and it won't happen. Go back to sleep…" He was stuck in a loop as the younger version of himself sprung out of bed, grabbing a wrapped present from under the bed. It was stressed,to,him from Olivia. It was a small video camera. Joe's chanting became louder as the small version of him began to film the room.

"Joe's, birthday maybe?" Marco asked, Joe himself just repeating his chant. The young him moved towards the door and Joe lashed out, punching the monitor in front of them. They looked horrified as the screen started to become bloody, Joe's hand creaking until the three held him back. Joe was frightened. Frightened to death. On the screen little Joe was heading towards a slightly ajar door, recording as he went. "Don't do it. Don't go. If you don't see it it won't be real! Please, stop!" Joe shouted at the monitor to no avail as little Joe opened the door. Marco and Jackie let go immediately as they lost it all over the floor.

The scene was dyed red. It almost looked like someone took a rag, soaked it in red paint, and spun it rapidly multiple times. At the foot of the bed was Mrs. Ackleman. Her head in her lap as she lay there, lacerations all over her body. She was in a fancy, Chinese style dress. On the bed nearby was Elena, her neck slit open, her eyes dimming as she died, a frantic smile on her face. Finally, right behind her, balls deep in his adopted daughter, was Mr. Ackleman. He was turning blue as a gag asphyxiated him. He smiled at Joe before pointing to a message written in blood on the wall.

'Happy Birthday Joe.'

Young Joe dropped the camera, it made a sickening thud on the ground as he simply looked at the scene. In front of everyone, was an open gift. Clearly meant for him. It contained a revolver, and a single bullet. Joe looked to and from the scene, the man in front of him finally passing out and falling over, revealing a knife in his back. The image flipped and it was clearly the same location, same day, but much later in the day. Joe was loading the bullet in the chamber and had closed the gun. The four watched as little Joe brought the gun to his head, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He did it again and again, nothing. The six chamber gun clicked twelve times before he tossed it to the ground, the thing going off on impact. Joe broke down and cried.

The image finally changed, they were clearly at the house still, next morning was the assumption as Olivia hugged Joe. He was motionless. Thr image changed again, Olivia was distraught as Joe had a knife in his leg, laughing maniacally. He had snapped and as the four watched on, the scene didn't improve. That's when a familiar sign appeared.

"St. Argute's." Just as Joe said, it was leisurely at first, followed by the underground chamber. The man nearly killing him while raping him, down to the fire started by his electric chair. At this point, they all began to wonder, where were the burn scars? They watched as again, Olivia cried over Joe outside the building. Next came a normal looking town and school. At first, it looked nice. Everyone liking him and trying to help. But They knew the song and dance now. Shortly it changed to beatings, thefts, and near murders. It repeated again and again until Joe's expression stopped changing. He didn't react to anything. Then came the day they met. Joe went home, and held a knife. He did nothing with it but place it back. The process repeated for a while, but soon, Star and Marco were a part of his life. He quickly became happy. Star turned and grabbed him into a deep hug. In a matter of moments Marco and Jackie joined as well, holding him still. Then came a fourth set of arms, they saw who it was, but he wasn't important right this moment. Then the eye scanned the new guest, Father Time. It showed everyone that all his life, he ran and ran and ran. Never stopping.

"To be honest, I thought I had it pretty bad. But this kid takes the cake. I'll get back on the wheel, you need some happiness in your lives today."

"Father time, maybe we can compromise." The group looked at Joe, a determination shining in them deeper than anything.

"How? Time is too fragile to stop again."

"Do the feet have to be on the wheel?" They looked around, noticing some large blue hamsters. Joe found himself being hugged tightly by four people as a plan was set in motion.

"Thanks again kids!" Father,time screamed as he shit off on top of the wheel, riding it like a sleigh with hamsters instead of reindeer. He was smiling as he left and the kids went back to the Diaz residence. As They arrived, they saw the very confused looks of four adults. Joe smiled and signalled he had this. He walked over and smiled,

"Hey guys, what's up?" The three,teens were astonished, and scared, how easily he had recovered.

"We were, uh, baking a cake. And, it's, gone."

"Spell gone wrong. We were hungry but trapped so we ate it. Pretty good." The four adults smiled as Jackie's parents tried to hide from sight. "Well, Jackie and I need to get going. We have a meeting at school in a little and we have to be there. Marco and Star will be around a bit though, Marco already turned his report into the council." The four adults blanched.

"Well, uh, why not have Jackie and Marco go together. I'm sure he could improve his report with her, uh, help." Angie was glistening with sweat while the three teens behind Joe did an impressive job of hiding their jubilation at his joke. Jackie however wanted in on this.

"Nah, I'm part of the committee to overview everything. I came over to get Joe specifically because he's head treasurer and has done an amazing job so far. We really need to figure out what our expenditure goal is and we're the best so far." The Diaz's were ready to explode in grief as he looked on. Star finally saw her chance to make things more fun.

"Well Joe, just be careful if mom calls. There is an exclusivity period for kings to their queens before they have a kid. Wouldn't want you falling for that delectable girl and losing your head over it."

"And you be careful around a guy like Marco! Guys like him can have weak willpower when it comes to beautiful women throwing themselves at them. Wouldn't want him to have to make an honest woman out of you!" They genuinely laughed as the Diaz's nearly broke down. Until the Thomas's did it first.

"No! We drugged the cake. You'll be immensely horny soon and fuck whatever moves in front of you! Don't do it please!" The teens burst out laughing, confusing the distressed parents. Joe being the first to recover. While his face held the smile, his eyes looked at them, dead.

"So, are you going to stop drugging people's food? Next time. We might actually fail to stop ourselves in time." They looked at Joe frightened. Though his words could be taken any number of ways, Joe seemed to carry an enormous killing intent. "And so help me if this causes Star any harm. You may not see the sun again." Everyone looked at Joe, he seemed incredibly on edge. The adults were confused, but the teens knew why. His life of pain was revealed to them, causing him to relive it when he wasn't ready. He was scared and angry. Unconsciously, the three teens walked over and comforted Joe, causing him to release a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Sorry, not really sure where that came from. But, please. Not again. We weren't lying about what could happen." The adults nodded and in minutes, Joe and Jackie were out the door. He wasn't lying about not needing Marco. He was so meticulous his notes had notes. Honestly, it wouldn't take much to pass it. Even the president of the council, Brittany, wouldn't be able, or willing, to fight it.

"Joe, I'm, sorry.".

"For what?"

"For a lot. My parents drugging the food, the, uh, sex. Seeing your past. I won't tell anyone by the way,"

"It's fine Jackie. Well, it isn't, but it isn't your fault. The cake was essentially Marco's fault, the past thing, I had my chance to run when it picked you and Marco. And I know you won't talk. You're an awesome girl. Just, expect me to be, off, for a few days. And to be fair, it's a relief to have it out there."

"About your little sister?"

"... Yeah. I loved her Jackie. She was my world back then."

"What happened to your parents if you don't mind."

"It's probably best to clarify it. Mom and dad, went insane. Mom planned for Olivia to be out of the house for a few days. She was able to save her, probably the biological aspect of motherhood, but she set up most of the scenario. Dad, dad suffered a brain tumor for years and damaged his frontal lobe. He lost control and did what he did. Sis, was an innocent. But she still died. If not for the camera I would have been convicted as the murderer. They even tried me as an adult. I was seven." Jackie looked horrified.

"How can you charge a seven year old like an adult, and expect you to do all that?"

"You should remember the rest. Random explosions of rage were commonplace. They held back with boundless love and that drove them mad. Each time I transferred the same thing happened. Each school I'd gain friends, and they would turn on me. Heck, my first 'girlfriend' brought me to her man-hating lesbian mothers and after raping me, they tried to have her castrate me. Literally out of nowhere. Luckily for me the girl realized things were going wrong while they were raping me and called the police. Too bad she explained it poorly. I got tased with hedge clippers at my groin." Jackie remembered that scene. She was thankful that she had nothing in her stomach right then."

"How did you survive?"

"... I didn't. Whoever the Joe back then would have been, died back then. And trust me, I tried to take my own life. Just never seemed to work out." He looked to his side, spotting a small bridge. "I tried over there fifth day of school. Had some weights on and tried to drown myself. Woke up being robbed of my clothes by a homeless man." Jackie looked at Joe, sadness flowing through her as she looked at Joe. She had taken notice of him day one. He wasn't bad looking, but he seemed so dead. Lots of people approached him and Star, but where Star tried, Joe did not. Jackie wanted to talk to him, but she was afraid it would look like she was going through him to impress Marco later on. So she had stayed away a bit. Nodding to him, giving passing greetings. That's when a new thought came over her.

"Why haven't I gotten upset at you? And Marco and Star? I've seen some kids at school do it, but not us. And we just spent a week practically joined at the shoulder."

"Well, until now I haven't spent much personal time with you, delayed the effect. Even Marco has had episodes in the past. But recently, it's calmed down significantly. I can't explain it, but, I'm happy about it."

"Maybe it has to do with how you really feel?"

"Might explain our okayness with odd things. However, that doesn't fully explain it all. I mean, Star was unaffected from the get go, as was my little sister and Olivia." Joe became lost in thought as he and Jackie approached the school.

"Whatever happens dude, we're friends first. I'll have your back no matter what." Her smile lit up Joe's heart. He smiled back.

"Thanks Jackie. If you want any tips on Marco, just ask. I owe you one compadre." They laughed as they entered the building. Unbeknownst to them, a pair of reptilian eyes were watching from the nearby shadows. Taking down notes as he calmly watched and listened.

"So, they were joking right?"

"Yes mom, we ate the cake but we didn't lose our heads until we were alone. Gotta say though, that is potent stuff. Where did you get it?"

"Mijo, some questions are better left unanswered. But you finally got Jackie huh? You must be happy!"

"Honestly dad, I'm worried I might be trying to go too fast." The four adults and Star, who was watching tv, looked at him, surprised. "I have lined after her for years, and now that I think about it, I know almost nothing about her as a person. Who is she really? I know she's awesome, but maybe I'm rushing it a bit. Comparing us to Joe and Star."

"Well, our relationship has had a lot of, unnecessary pushing." She partly glared at the Diazs who began to whistle, Marco included. "But we go together well because we never put the other on a pedestal. You still have the chance to fix this Marco, give Jackie a real try. Even if it doesn't work out, honest effort will leave you both happy in the end." Star smiled as Raphael cleared a tear from his eye.

"Thanks Star. You're the best." Star smiled.

"Naw, no one is the best. We are the best together."

"Naw, if any pair is the best, it's you and Joe. No one can claim true love like you two." Star's smile faded slightly. She really wondered, why did they fall in love?

**A/N**

**Well, that's not the planned ending. Hell, I wasn't planning on having a fourway either. But it fits, and it doesn't ruin my story plan in the slightest. Now hopefully people start learning lessons about helping love out as this story's favorite couple (everywhere else starco for life) goes through that horrible moment of, 'what is love' just in time for a revisit to our favorite season three villain. Meteora.**

**Just gonna say something else though. Despite all the pain these characters have and will go through, there will come a time when all seems lost. But this story will have a happy(?) ending. After all, pain and suffering defines who we are. And when we visit St. O's, I will show you how we deal with our pain, and the pain of others, can define who we are, and how we love. After all, Star VS is a show about three things. True love, growing up, and what it means to truly be a friend. **

**Final note, I've been writing a lot on my phone. I'm planning on going back through and editing the last several chapters to fix them up. It's embarrassing how far off some are.**


	11. Chapter 11: St Os

Joe was awake. It wasn't entirely new anymore. Star had accepted he would go to sleep with her, wake up long before her, go for a bit of exercise, then come back to be with her when she wakes up. But he wasn't going for a run today. Not with Star like this. She was shaking so much the bed itself was quivering. She was drenched in sweat and her brow was furrowed. It was horrifying to him. He tried to calm her down as best he could, but she wouldn't stop shaking. This had been happening ever since that damned freeze day fiasco.

Joe surmised she was burying it due to what he had gone through. Trying her best to support him. He hated it. Not the gesture of course, he loved her supporting him, but he hated that she was essentially killing herself instead of letting him support her.

"Star, wake up." He shook her a bit but all she did was pull away. "Star!" He shook her some more and she tried to pull away. Joe,grabbed her and pulled her into a bear hug, placing his mouth next to her ear. "St-" he was cut off as she bit him on the shoulder, hard. The fabric of his undershirt protected him from the worst of it, but the Newman princess had a very strong bite. "Star!" He nearly screamed in pain, managing to keep it to s pained whisper. Then it stopped, Star's hands slowly pushing at his chest.

"Joe?" Star sounded scared as she awoke.

"It's okay Star, I'm right here."

"It's two in the morning."

"You were having a nightmare."

"I-I'm sorry Joe."

"Don't be sorry Star. But what's going on? This isn't normal and you won't talk about it."

"It's nothing." Star dover her head below Joe's and tried to go back to sleep.

"Nothing is having some kids beat on me years ago. This is making you suffer, now. This is important. Please, talk to me."

"Okay. Um, it's, well, it's about, the Blood Moon Ball."

"What about the Ball? There was, quite a bit that happened." Joe squeezed Star. He didn't want her worrying about it, but it wasn't like he wasn't worried about it either. The only answers they got were that Moon and the Commision were on it.

"It's, actually about you."

"The whole dying part?"

"Yes, and no. You see, demons have rituals to kill even the supposedly immortal. So, there's no escaping death, and he did so as a precaution. But you lived. And then there was what happened. I know Glossaryck talked to you about it, and I'm, I'm scared."

"... Star, what I'm about to tell you can't be discussed with anyone. Not Marco, Moon, the Commision, anyone. Not even me. Okay?" Star separated from him slightly, looking deep into his eyes. She was wide awake, and paying full attention. Joe took a deep breath.

"Okay. So the short answer, and there is a longer one I will give, is that only Glossaryck has a theory, but says it's nothing to worry about right now either way."

"How can no one know? That was clearly magic!"

"Yes, but none of the Commision have seen it before. I was dead, my soul forced out of my body, but something kept me linked. That magic, it had a sense of self. It promised to help me, lend me strength to save you. It said we'd meet again and it would explain more then. But, it's clearly been keeping me alive. Ever since that day, I've remembered some times when I've, tried to kill myself." Star was suddenly pressed against him, her bare skin on his. She had him in a tight grip.

"I don't plan to go anywhere Star. You gave me a new purpose in life, and I don't plan on wasting any time I can have by your side. But, I do feel that power was not meant for this body. If you'll remember, Moon took me to the Commision for a few days."

"Yeah. We were all very worried about you."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. But, I was asleep, in a hospital bed."

"Huh?"

"The magic that was within me did a lot of damage, or the punches did. Not entirely sure. But if I were to master the power, I'd almost never want to use it. I could actually kill myself. So for now, it's best to wait and see. Okay?"

"... Okay Joe. Goodnight." Star placed her forehead,on Joe's chest, joe sighing loudly.

"And what else is bothering you?" Star stiffened against him.

"... In the morning, okay?"

"I'll hold you to it Star." Without another word, the two attempted to go back to sleep. Joe deciding her comfort trumped his plans. The next morning though, would lead to disaster.

"Star, about last night-"

"You didn't go to your run, I know. But we can just walk to school and take the long way for a run! I'll be taking a shower at school and so should you. Breakfast is ready so let's go eat!" Star got dresses at an impossible pace and dashed out of the room. Joe feeling hurt.

"Star, you promised." Joe quickly got dressed. He knew Star was a fast eater and today he was going to have to be as well. Until he got downstairs and saw her sitting with one plate on the table, stacked high with food. He realized what she was doing and felt even more hurt. She was using romantic feeding to stall in front of the Diazs!

"Star, seriously."

"What? I want to be romantic today for my boyfriend!" She smiled, but Joe, having seen so many of her smiles, could see right through her. She knew what she was doing.

"We're talking about this this morning Star, but I'll drop it for right now. For you." Star smiled a bit more genuinely at Joe, kissing him on the jaw as he sat down. She maneuvered into his lap, as Joe began feeding the two of them. After breakfast, Star beelined for the bathroom, hiding out as she did her hair, make-up and used the restroom. The entire time Joe was stewing over her reluctance to talk to him. He had just shared knowledge he shouldn't have to alleviate her worry, why wouldn't she do the same for him? As she stepped out, he admitted she looked gorgeous, but he also knew he shouldn't wait around.

"Star, you're about to go on a run and you're putting on make-up while planning to shower at school, while also wearing high heels."

"Oh, guess that was sort of silly. Thanks for waiting by the way Joe! Now, let's get to running!" Joe blocked off her path, anger starting to bubble up uncontrollably.

"Star, you promised."

"I promised nothing Joe. Now come on! We gotta get to school." Joe had enough. She had been dodging him all morning and he wanted to know. Now.

"Star. You promised we'd talk about this. It's hurting you an-"

"Joe, compared to you I've had a walk in the park. Let me shoulder this burden. It'll pass soon Joseph." She slapped her hand over her mouth. Progress from a slip of the tongue.

"It's St. O's isn't it?"

"Look Joe, it's fine. Let's just get going. Okay?" Joe looked calm, but Star could see something inside him.

"Fine, but I need to do something real quick." Without giving Star a chance he leapt backwards and into their, no, her room. He grabbed out his suitcase and threw everything into it that was his. Not that he had much. Just about eight sets of clothes, a toothbrush, and a phone charger. He placed it by her door and headed downstairs. He spent the next nine hours trying to get her to talk, but she kept brushing him off, slipping up every now and again. The more the day went on the more frustration grew on Joe. And when they finally got home, Star sat on the couch. Only to be confused as Joe went upstairs, momentarily disappearing from sight before returning with the suitcase in tow.

"Joe, what's-"

"Star, you don't want me to help, fine. I'll let whatever happens, happen. But I'm not sitting here and watching it happen. If there's nothing I can do, I'll just go home and wait for whatever is happening to pass." Star leapt to her feet, a sudden surge of fear taking hold.

"But, but, but, this is your home Joe, with me!"

"Sure doesn't feel that way."

"What's your problem Joseph?" It was at that moment Star realized she fucked up.

"And that's my queue." Without a word Joe stormed out, leaving Star in stunned silence. She stared at the door in disbelief as she heard a sound from the kitchen. She looked over and saw Jackie, Marco, Raphael, and Angie. Raphael picked up the phone and put hos hand out towards her.

"Do you need the sad teen hotline?" Star began to cry, dropping to her knees. The group of four looked at each other and moved towards her, only for her to bolt upstairs. All but Marco looking sad as Marco became very, very worried. She didn't run like normal. On all their increasingly commonplace adventures, Star had run like a normal person. Just then. In her normal dress, she ran like a Disney Princess. He looked to Jackie who, upon seeing his expression, motioned towards the stairs. He smiled and followed Star, only to find her door locked. He was about to call out to her when he heard a portal open. He got scared, remembering how he and Jackie borrowed the scissors earlier to get home first. He quickly portaled himself in to find, no one. He blanched as he pulled out his mirror phone.

"Call Queen Moon. Emergency!"

"So let me get this straight, Joe got upset at Star, walked out with his things, then Star ran to her room, locked the door, then somehow portaled away?" Moon glared at Marco and Jackie, Marco's parents deciding to leave this matter to Star's immediate family and friends.

"Yes ma'am. I texted Joe, but he hasn't responded." Moon, looking neutral pulled out her personal mirror phone.

"Call, Son."

"Calling, Joseph Ackleman." Marco noted that Moon saved Joe in her contacts as 'son'. He had no more time to think on it as Joe answered.

"Yes, Queen Moon Butterfly of Mewni, how may I be of service?" Moon looked furious, her facade dropping as her worry for Star turned towards Joe.

"I have no time for this Joe. Star is missing and-"

"Running away. Good thinking Star. That works out so fucking well." Moon was taken aback. This was Joe, the boy she had accepted to be her future son-in-law, wasn't it?

"Joe, what happened? This isn't like you."

"Oh, someone cares about MY thoughts? Guess you're actually concerned Moon. That honestly makes me feel better. Now if only Star would stop being a FUCKING DUMBASS we could get somewhere." Moon's jaw dropped as the rest of the room took a step back. Joe had never been angry at Star before, and had only really been angry once. This was new, amd terrifying.

"Joe, please."

"Sorry, you guys don't deserve it. Well, not all of that. After some, recent events, Star had her trauma from St. O's forced back into the spotlight." Moon placed a hand on her chest. "She's been having nightmares constantly but she has also been avoiding talking about it. At first I thought maybe it was just going to pass. I thought it did, but last night I noticed her tossing and turning while sweating and mumbling. I tried to get her to talk about it, but she dodged me. She's also started, devolving. It was subtle at first, but as Marco heard, she spoke proper to me, calling me Joseph." Marco practically bugged his way into the image, brow furrowed in anger.

"I don't really see the issue. She wants to deal with it on her own. That does not excuse you from what you did Joe. You abandoned her when she needed you."

"Babe, Joe has a reason, I'm sure about it. You know Joe love's Star a lot. Maybe this is all communication." Marco looked back at Jackie, off screen. "Joe wouldn't hurt Star for no reason, so let's find out the reason, and get them to talk again, see eye to eye."

"Jackie, seriously consider couples counseling as a career, cause that's good advice. I literally talk to her about anything that's wrong with me and not just worry over a surprise for her, but she won't return the sentiment. So, if she doesn't want me around to be there for her, I'll leave. That is the kind of shit I put up with from assholes who don't matter. Not Star. If she wants to act like that, she can go fuck herself."

"Joe, we don't know where she went! She could be hurt or-"

"There are three places. It isn't hard to figure them out either. Your standing in one, and the other is in the Kingdom of her best friend from Mewni. Leaves one option after that." Joe paused for a moment, his expression softening as he suddenly growled. And I'm borrowing the scissors Marco. This is something for me, and Moon to take care of. You and Jackie-"

"We're coming with dude. That's a fact."

"... Fine. But I'm doing this my way." He hung up and, a few moments later, was walking through Star's door with his suitcase. "For the record, I've been outside the front door for the past half-hour."

"Why?"

"Was hoping Star would be proactive and seek me herself instead of running away. Now then, Queen Moon, our first stop is Princess Lilacia Ponyhead."

"Why her?"

"She's the most likely person Star turned to for help, and if she isn't with her, I'm bringing her with." Moon nodded as Jackie and Marco grabbed each other's hands. "First stop, Ponyhead Kingdom." Without pause, Moon opened a portal, and they went through. They ended up outside of a castle, standing on a cloud. Their breathing increased as they realized they were very high up in the sky.

"Who goes- ah! Queen Moon. How may I serve you today your grace?" A ponyhead guard tilted his head towards the group as Moon quickly got them into the castle, where the air was pressurized, and soon, in front of Lilacia herself. Joe and Marco taking mental notes on how efficiently Moon had gotten them from outside to inside without actually saying what she was here for.

"To what do I owe this honor Queen Moon?"

"I'll cut to the chase. Where is Star?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea ma'am." Joe was sick of all this proper speak. Besides Moon it all sounded fake, and with his emotions boiling, he wanted this concluded, now.

"Princess Ponyhead, first, good to see you in good health." Joe did a bow, irritation on his face as he looked at her. "Second, Star is missing, she's a runaway. That's very improper behaviour to do so without telling anyone where she is going, and it is very improper behaviour to lie about it to said princess's mother."

"She said it was obvious that she needed help." Moon looked at Ponyhead, shocked. "You see, she felt she needed a reminder of what she is. That is all I will say out of respect for her privacy."

"Then you're coming with us to St. O's. And yes, I know that's where she is." Moon looked shocked as she replied.

"But, why?" Marco and Jackie suddenly felt out of place.

"Either she wanted to get herself over her problem, or she wants to go back to when she was, proper. Either way she's in over her head. And worse, she doesn't know it." Marco stood in awe of Joe's deductive skills.

"You know an awful lot about these things Joe."

"Comes with the package deal of outside observation, and boredom in an insane asylum. Oh, and experience."

"Well, I apologize, but I will not be joining you. I don't have a need to revisit the facility, and I have no obligation to."

"You do though. Your friend. 'B-fly' is currently at that school, by your aid, against the wishes of her family, and in disregard for the school's closure order, and in an attempt at dereliction of duties, against the order of her parents to stay on Earth. This could be seen as a threat on your ally, meaning you have sullied your name, her name, and your kingdoms with such a decision. So please, help us help your friend." The room stood silent. All stood amazed not just by how well Joe did it, but how quickly he had. It seemed that when it came to Star, Joe suddenly became whatever it was Star needed.

"... You are correct. Allow me to send a messenger to my father informing him of the plans and we can be on our way." They all nodded and soon Ponyhead was outside the small meeting room, relaying the message to a guard.

"Joe, how did you know that would work?"

"As painful as it is to say, manipulating mind washed drones is easy. Especially when their personal wants coincide with their altered wants, or at least if you make it seem like they do." Moon solemnly nodded. She noted that Joe would make a great king as Ponyhead arrived. She nodded and Moon opened a portal. They all stepped through and immediately regretted it. They were on a cliff overseeing the grounds.

The school itself looked like a Victorian era mansion, redecorated for Halloween. It was covered in moss with holes everywhere. The stone path was nearly covered in dirt and gate was rusted open. Above the premises was a large storm cloud that seemed to spin in place above the castle.

"Star was right, similar to St. Argute's."

"That's right, you had an, experience, as well you said."

"Yeah, but unlike here, they didn't really care about succeeding." With that, Joe walked forward, Ponyhead cutting him off.

"I'm sorry, but no boys allowed on the premises to protect the purity of the students."

"The place is abandoned. There are no stu-"

"Welcome to St. Olga's School for Wayward Princesses! I'm your host, Gemini." Joe looked shocked as a Frankenstein's Monster style creature with a gem in one eye lurched forward, standing at the gate which now looked immaculate.

"See now Mr. Ackleman? Now, if you'll please." Ponyhead began to try and push Joe away from the gate. But Joe merely grabbed her, and walked inside, right through the man.

"He isn't real. None of this is real." Joe walked up to the door, but before he could do anything, a hand grabbed him. He looked, and became scared when a robotic guard had his hand.

"No boys allowed. Also, release the princess or be terminated. For emphasis, the guard placed a blade at Joe's throat. Before he could come up with a response, the guard was slammed with blue magic. Joe looked as Moon approached.

"Do not threaten my son In-law again. We are here to see my daughter. Where is she."

"I'm afraid your daughter is currently undergoing reconditioning for behaviour issues. Please leave and come back when she is finished." They looked to the voice, Joe recognized the person from Star's timeline, she was the headmistress.

"Heinous! But, you're-"

"Tales of my untimely demise have been greatly exaggerated. Now then, why don't you two run along and-" before she could finish she was struck by a large blast of magic from Moon, now in her butterfly form.

"Joe, take Ponyhead, Marco and his girlfriend and go. Now." Joe nodded as Marco and Jackie bolted by, slamming the door to reveal a whole host of enemy guards. Moon quickly turned and blasted them, but had to stop when Heinous attacked her directly, the woman somehow perfectly evading Moon. Not having time to think, Marco leapt forward. He dove into the enemy and began to tear into them with a flurry of punches and kicks, knocking down many, and grabbing the attention of the rest. Taking the hint, Jackie and Joe took Ponyhead, herself awfully calm, and darted inside.

"I don't know what is going on, but you must cease this at once. Drop me off at a guard post and-"

"Oh shut up." Ponyhead did as Jackie and Joe began to weave through the mansion, looking for any sign of Star. After dodging a few more guards, they found themselves outside on a stone walkway leading to one of the towers.

"Ready to give up yet?" Ponyhead said, clearly starting to get tired of being dragged around.

"Never."

"Okay Mr. Ackleman. Why? Why do all this? Why go through all of this? You insult her, walk out on her, then turn around and fight a group of trained guards trying to give her the help she needs. For what purpose?"

"You're an idiot." Ponyhead went to respond, but Joe continued. "I didn't leave her out of hate, it was love. I won't explain why to you, but I will explain why I still won't leave her here. She, and you, came here because as children, you were rambunctious and energetic. Damn good qualities if you apply some focus. But instead of trying to find ways to help you, they sent you off to be someone else's problem. Now here you are, thinking that this is glorious, while your best friend is getting hurt and ruined by a system whose purpose is to make bloody puppets who can't have fun!" Joe went to stand up, and accidentally tripped on Jackie's feet, face planting him. A moment of silence followed as Jackie looked on horrified.

"Oh my goodness. Are you okay dude?" She moved to get up as Joe looked back, his face red like a balloon from the impact. He was about to say something when the impossible happened.

"Heh… heheh…. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Joe looked on as Ponyhead lost it. She was laughing so hard her mane lost it's perfectly styled look. "That was hilarious my man. You should be a circus clown or something. Maybe a jester if you play your cards right." She stopped laughing as she realized what had happened. "*gasp* Oh my goodness! I'm free! I'm me again!" As she celebrated, Joe couldn't help but feel empty. He had once wanted this, but not in this way. Not without Star.

"Grats on getting your groove back girl. But we need to save Star before she becomes like you were, or worse. Do you know where she might have gone?" Ponyhead stopped her little party at that.

"Oh damn! I got two places in mind where B-fly may be at. Come on!" They quickly followed the flying head, dodging only a few guards as they reached a room. It was terrifying to see two figures guarding it. Moon and Marco.

"What up Mama-B? Sup Earthturd. Is Star in there?" They don't move. "Okay. You're creeping me out. Let's just-" as Ponyhead moved towards them, they moved to intercept, tossing Ponyhead like a rag doll before moving back to position. Joe watched and had an idea. He walked forward till one step before Ponyhead was attacked, stopping and bowing.

"Excuse me, Joe Ackleman here to see Star Butterfly."

"No visitors." They said in unison, the voices sounding like their own echoes.

"But I am here at the behest of her mother, Queen Moon Butterfly and Mistress Heinous to directly check up on her as her future husband."

"... You may proceed. Alone." The two didn't budge, even as Joe reached the door.

"I'll be right back guys. Stay safe."

"Dude, we aren't the ones to worry about." Joe nodded and proceeded forward. The room he entered immediately sent a chill down his spine. In front of him was Star, strapped to a chair, wand in hand, with I.V.s running into her arm. She was forced to watch a projector constantly running a black and white film about proper princessing. He immediately moved to her and heard her chanting.

"A princess must be proper at all times." He immediately went to the horrible device on her head that was forcing her eyes open. He got it off, but she didn't blink. He then carefully removed the I.V.s, setting them aside, only for each one to be back in place as he finished the next. Eventually he tried to remove the restraints holding her in place, but he failed. The chanting got more and more worrying as Joe struggled to save her from the device, but try as he might, he was making no progress. He looked back at her face, her cheek marks were grey as slate, and her expression neutral. Suddenly, the restraints clicked free, the I.V.s disappeared, and the projector turned off. Joe backed up as Star blinked and stood up. She looked at him, eyes dead. For the first time that day, Joe's anger lost to sorrow as she spoke.

"Good afternoon beloved. I am surprised they allowed you in to see me, but am no less grateful." Each word was a dagger in his heart. He started to cry as she hugged him, no warmth to be found. "Dearest Joseph. Do not despair. I am doing wonderfully. Please, let us-" she stopped as Joe began crying, falling to his knees as he realized his Star was gone. It was his fault, and he couldn't save her. Star searched her memories for an event like this, but she couldn't place this. Joe was being surprisingly emotional today.

"Why are you crying dearest? I am in good health and-"

"You're dead."

"No, I am most certainly alive and well."

"The Star I knew is gone."

"No no, merely refined."

"It's all my fault."

"I'm sure you merely lacked experience in your duties, but regardless, this is a good outcome."

"No it isn't!"

"But I am cured. I am a proper princess again. I'll never upset you or have those nightmares again. It'll be just you and me. We'll marry when we come of age, and have a child when my body is capable of safely caring for one."

"So they were about this place." He latched on and cried, driven on by Star's attempts to comfort him. After a while, he spoke again. "Why, why didn't you trust me?" If Star was shocked by this, she didn't show it.

"Trust you? Why do you think I don't trust you?"

"Cause I'm weak."

"And Why do you think that. I've seen your body. Even with that device you're quite muscular."

"Not physically. Emotionally." Star stayed quiet, and Joe's fight was gone. He spilled his guts, without leaving a single piece behind. "Since we've known each other we've learned what the other has gone through. Every step of the way you knew just what to do for me. You helped me overcome the inhibitions of the past, and find a promising new future. Meanwhile, in your times of need I'm never around. When Ludo strikes, it's Marco who helps you, and I'm a coward who runs and hides. I've got my condition, so I can't relieve your boredom outside of a bedroom, making me a glorified dildo. Even when you had these terrible nightmares I couldn't comfort you or make them stop. You didn't even trust me enough to talk about it because your worried I'll break apart or something."

"But I do trust you. And I have. You've been through so much-"

"EXACTLY!" Star was taken completely off guard. Staring in bewilderment at Joe as he continued. "All I do is attract your attention to MY problems. MY issues. I was numb to most of mine, and when you came along you helped me deal with my issues and move on. I'm not fixed, not by a long shot but I am moving forward. You aren't. You're stuck in the painful days of old and you don't trust me to help. You worry that I may break at a god damn touch and I proved you right. I was so angry, so upset, I wanted to be there for you. To be relied on. To be useful to you for once. But I failed. I always fail." Joe felt his life almost draining from him. His self doubt returning for the first time in weeks. He used to find normalcy in it. Now it just hurt.

"You don't fail Joe. Your my emotional support."

"You have your parents, Marco, Jackie, Ponyhead and lately you've been reconnecting with older friends. You seem especially fond of that Kelly person. You have your supports that you rely on."

"But you comfort me when the rest can't."

"A hug pillow with a dick would help just the same. I'm not who you go to for words half the time. You don't trudt me enough to even think about me helping you." Star paused, choosing her words carefully.

"Joe, I-"

"Can you do it again?" Star was puzzled, finally stopping her hand on his back.

"Do what again?"

"... The conformation." Star went rigid. He couldn't be asking that.

"Yes…. Why?"

"... Can you do it to me?" She felt something tick inside her.

"Absolutely not."

"So I'm to be useless forever."

"Joe, you aren't useless."

"Star. I can't be there for you as I am. You don't want me. I'm just some pet project you're distracting yourself with. I'm not good enough like this. I need to be more, and it seems this makes you that. I'm not worthy otherwise."

"If you weren't my mother wouldn't have accepted you."

"How do you know she isn't wrong?"

"Because mother is never wrong." Star smiled a little. Perhaps she was getting through to him. This was worth it.

"Then why aren't you like her? Why are you this?"

"Because Joe, I'm less than her."

"... Then make me more. Like you. Make me better, please. Make the hurt stop. Just like you did for you." Her smile evaporated. Something was beginning to churn inside her. Something, painful.

"Joe, there's no point to it. You are fine. Why would you want to be like me anyway?"

"To know you better." Star sat up even straighter. The logic didn't fall into place. "I want to know who you are, what you're doing, why you're doing it. I want to be a man you aren't embarrassed of or by. I want to make you happy, and I've failed. I'm making you hurt. Suffer. I'm the reason you came here to 'better' yourself. I want to be strong like you, kind like you. I want to be with you. Through the darkest of days, and the most amazing of nights, but I can't like this. Not when I'm weak. Not when I make mistakes."

"It would kill you Joe."

"Then I can rest with the Star you were, while the new Joe makes you happy. We can let you be, happy."

"Stop it."

"I, I need to die." His breathing was erratic, the red glow of his chest signalling he was dying in her arms. Suddenly she noticed he wasn't wearing his undershirt. She looked again and saw his hand reaching towards his chest.

"It's okay. Breath Joe. You can-" her voice was cut off as his hand reached his chest, and with a sickening snap, began to bury itself into his body. She watched in silence as his hand pushed in deeper, grabbing the red glow. He began to pull when she grabbed his now bloody arm.

"That's enough Joe!" She pushed back as he tried to pull out. She knew what was going on. Whatever that light source was Joe had it in his hand. If it left him. He would die. "Stop!" Blood pooled under him from his wound and onto him from his mouth. She began to panic. Then she remembered her wand. She aimed it at him and cast a spell. Instantly he fell limp. She had paralyzed him. She removed his hand from his chest, and the red glow slowly healed the wound. Leaving only a hole in his shirt. Joe looked at her, incredibly hurt, and worst of all, scared. She had done this to him. She wanted to protect him. Instead, she almost killed him.

"Why? You're better off without me. You deserve someone like Marco who is actually able to do stuff with you. I'm no one. I'm nothing. I deser-"

"Stop talking Joe. Please, stop talking. She grabbed onto him tightly and began to cry, Joe following suit after. What they didn't see was the room was now in a disheveled state, the door partially off the hinge as Moon, Marco, and Jackie stared on. Moon looked to both, escorting them out to give the young couple time to break down properly. Together.

It was over an hour later when the pair was simply holding each other. No more tears existed to be shed, and no more had they spoke. They hadn't even moved from the center of the floor. Right now, Jackie was watching from the door. She looked at Joe sadly, glancing at the pool of blood on and below him. Moon explained to them about Joe's strange ability to evade death. It was why he didn't go on adventures with Star. He was a cursed man. She looked at the scene with a shudder. Not an hour ago Joe had tried to kill himself out of sorrow Star. She again wondered if she and Marco were going to work out. The idea of not dating him bummed her out, but if she tried to picture a guy she'd die for, he wasn't who came to mind. And that scared her. She heard shifting and focused on the couple. Joe was looking at Star's stomach.

"Star. Talk to me. Please." Star shifted and looked down, petting his head.

"I, was having this nightmare. The one we just, experienced. Where I, get reconformed.

"Why didn't you want to talk about it?"

"I was an idiot. I didn't want to worry you and that just pushed you away. I'm sorry Joe. Don't, don't ever leave me again, and never think of yourself like that! Please. I want you here, for better or for worse. I don't care if you have a hundred concubines, just stay by me. Please."

"Only so long as you'll have me." Star held his head as Joe wrapped his arms around Star, enjoying each other's warmth.

"Joe. This may be sudden. But I really, really want a baby right now." Joe chuckled as he held Star harder, rubbing into her belly before responding coyly.

"Wah." Jackie immediately broke down laughing, not expecting a joke from Joe right then. The couple looked over at her as Marco and Moon came running over. "Is everything okay?"

"Depends, Queen Moon, what happens if I get Star pregnant before marriage?" The genuine smile on Joe's face caught Moon off guard.

"Well, you'll have to marry her. I don't, wait, are you two-"

"Not yet mom, gotta go bye!" She jumped up and Joe produced the scissors he had earlier, he quickly cut two portals, he and Star jumping into one, closing it behind them as the other stayed open. The three stared blankly on. The sheer mood change leaving them all confused as a fourth came onto the scene.

"So like, they back to normal or what?"

"They've gone to try and make a baby."

"Wait, what the fuck happened in the last hour? I was only setting up some celebratory bad choices."

"It happened in under three minutes."

"What the-" *ring* "Huh? Oh, it's B-fly. Hang on." Pony immediately answered her mirror phone out of nowhere, leaving Marco and Jackie confused as to how. "What up girl! Oh, thanks for the birthday wishes girlfriend and, earth guy. Uh huh? Oh yeah, I'd be delighted B-fly! Catch ya on the flip girl!" She hung up and looked at the other three. "Better start them wedding preparations. Cause they trying to make me a godmother tonight!" She immediately pushed the three through the open portal, saying her goodbyes as she did. She sighed in relief as she opened another portal with her own scissors before heading out to party.

From the shadows a figure emerged. Heinous. She looked around and sighed. She slowly made her way through the halls to her office. Remembering the days of old. She sat down and took a deep breath before opening up a drawer and placing a call on a mirror phone. The image displayed was a single word as the other side picked up.

'Interference'

"Meteora reporting. Events deviated from projected course. Their relationship is stronger than ever. They are currently on their way to fuck a baby into Star."

"Great. Glossaryck says not to interfere, but I'll prevent the pregnancy. The rest of the council has decided, you're to skip around a bit. Toffee is still going for the original plan. You must remain hidden until that party with Mina. If you're actions today ruined anything I'll have your head."

"You can't take my head. I must be reborn, remember?"

"Well, I can always reincarnate you to be in love with Marco, now couldn't I?" Heinous trembled.

"Okay, okay. Not like I really did anything today anyway. If Moon had been involved Star may have remained changed and the 'red' may have been lost this cycle. I stand by my actions. However, we are approaching the critical point. What of my mother, is she on schedule?"

"We may need her to lead Joe astray. I'm sorry if this complicates matters with your dad, but it could be worse remember." Meteora nodded. The call ended and she turned around.

"For the future of Mewni." She slipped out of the room. Disappearing into the night. She smiled deviously.

**A/N**

**So our lovely couple has finally faced an emotional breakdown only partially related to their pasts. Now, as our couple prepares to move forward, it's time for us to start deviating from the standard path of the show. Mewnipendence day is up next, but now it's time for Marco to be on the center stage for a bit. And now we see that whoever is behind this controls both Toffee and Heinous who knows who she is. What lies in wait on the day Star started becoming an ally if monsters? Well, we'll find out, together!**


	12. Chapter 12: Wait, what?

**A/N: I felt like perhaps the ending was a bit rushed last chapter, maybe not what you would call well done. While I did want to save this for later, it feels like perhaps I have gone a little too far without properly setting up WHY they forgave so easily. After all the drama, they talked it out, cried it out, and forgave each other, but for most relationships it takes more than that. It needs time. But these two were ready to go like jack rabbits immediately after only an hour. But, why? And what really triggered their first fight? This is NOT the entire answer. It is part of it, but it goes so much deeper than that. In fact-**

**"Don't! They must not know yet young one!"**

**"Ah, apologies 'Master of the Order'. Almost got ahead of myself. But to you, my readers, keep in mind that sometimes miracles are really just another form of magic. Ttfn!**

"Joe."

"Yeah?"

"What just happened?" Joe thought on this as he looked around. They had just made up after their first fight, they were in her bed, and, they were both fully clothed, an odd occurrence that hasn't happened since her mewberty.

"I think, I think we got caught up in the moment again. But…" Joe trailed off, Star put her head on his chest, the words coming out after a moment.

"It didn't feel, right." They simply laid there for a moment as they contemplated this.

"... I know your listening Glossaryck." Star looked up at Joe, and a moment later the Book of Spells floated up.

"Glossaryck!" Star sat up, fuming.

"Hello to you too Princess. Glad to see you made it back okay."

"Glossaryck! I could have permanently lost who I was! Why didn't you try and stop me?"

"Because I can't cure the disease, only the symptoms. But I also doubt that's why Joe called for me to reveal myself?"

"Wait, were you going to-"

"Oh no. No. Heavens no. I always excuse myself while you try for an heir. But seriously, your question Joe?"

"... I thought she wasn't affected."

"She isn't." Star began to look back and forth between the two.

"That doesn't explain-"

"If you didn't fight you wouldn't care about each other. It mea-"

"We made up on the spot and ran away from everyone saying we were going to make a baby. You can't say she wasn't affected by it!"

"But she wasn't. You were." Joe stared questioningly at Glossaryck. "Your aura honestly hasn't done anything but force a general increase in everyone's mood. Except Star, Moon, and a few other magical beings. And since my observations, it doesn't affect Marco as much anymore. Possibly because of his proximity to Star as his parents are affected the same way."

"I've never heard Glossaryck be so straight forward about this much before."

"And you haven't made me a bathtub full of really good homemade pudding before. Seriously, try it. His chocolate candy bars aren't bad either."

"Glossaryck! The sweets were supposed to be a secret!" Star smiled at Joe for a moment before joining back in.

"I don't even know why this is a worry Joe. We're back to what we should be. But better!"

"And while I'm happy about it, it's not normal for such a quick turnaround. Especially jumping into wanting to have sex, and almost immediately afterward wanting not to. It's like our emotions are all over the place!"

"Hmmm. That is peculiar. Now then let me see." Glossaryck closed his eyes and opened them. They were now pure white. "I see. That would explain part of it. But what about… oh no." His eyes returned to normal as the normally unchangeable Glossaryck looked panicked. "I'm about to ask you to do something very strange Star."

"Whatever it is, I'll do it." Star had a resolve in her eyes that soldiers walking into death would find heartening.

"Good." Glossaryck produced a white, plastic stick and Joe gripped tightly onto Star. "Pee on this." Star's face dropped into an incredulous look. Staring right at Glossaryck.

"What?" Joe found his words, catching exactly what Glossaryck was implying. At least on one front.

"You can't be serious. Is, is that a-"

"Yes and there's no time. Star. Take this, pee a little on this end, then we await the results."

"Ahhhh."

"There's no time Star. Trust me."

"Star, trust him. And if he's right… I'll be here for you."

"Huh?" She looked at Joe, not expecting him to side with Glossaryck so easily.

"Star. Please."

"... Okay." Without anything else, Star carefully made her way to the bathroom, locking the door as she closed it.

"Glossaryck, I thought you said-"

"It has nothing to do with that."

"So. 'He' doesn't?"

"... That's not supposed to happen. Boy. We might be nearing the end of what I can do beyond observe. But if that result is what I believe it will be. Then the obvious answer is your bonding by the Blood Moon caused it. She's always been a wild card, and this could be her doing. But honestly, it's the best guess." Before Joe could respond the door clicked and then opened. Out came Star, holding the stick.

"So, it has a plus on it. What does that mean, and why did I have to pee on it?" Joe Did not respond. Instead he walked over and gingerly took the stick from Star. He looked at it while Star looked at him worriedly. Suddenly he moved quickly to Star's mirror.

"Conference call. Moon and Olivia."

"Conference calling Queen Moon Butterfly and Olivia Ackleman." The mirror rang for a moment as Star walked up to Joe, and Glossaryck retreated to the book. Both women answering the phone.

"Star what's wrong?"

"Need anything little sis?" They both noticed Joe and the dead expression he wore. They waited without a word as they stared at him. Waiting for him to speak. After a full minute, he took a deep breath, and did just that.

"So… who's buying the crib?"

The next twenty minutes were a whirlwind of activity. Somehow, not twenty seconds after Joe had asked that fabled question, had the Diazs brought in a baby crib into the room. Apparently it had arrived while they were out and the Diazs assembled it in the garage. Exactly how they knew before anyone else was beyond everyone present. However, the joy in the room quickly returned as Moon and Olivia practically carried Star around. The joy however, was overpowered by worry for two people in the room.

"So everyone is okay with a pregnant FOURTEEN year-old girl? This could be a disaster!"

"Son, why on Mewni would becoming a father be, a disaster?"

"... I haven't been called that in, no, nevermind. Becoming a father is mostly fine, I don't think I'm ready but that's a whole different ballgame. I am worried because Star is so young! I mean, she's going to have a baby at this size!" Suddenly, most of the room got the message. All except star who puffed her cheeks out in annoyance.

"What's the issue? I'm sure I can be capable Joe."

"Sister, oh that's fun to day after so long! Sister, it's less about mothering then, carrying the child before birth. The baby will push your organs as it grows and for an average sized adult it's very uncomfortable, for a child like you, it could cause major complications for both of you." Star immediately covered her belly, with Joe instinctively moving behind her to cover her belly as well. They stood there for a moment until the sounds of pictures being taken made the two seperate slightly.

"Not to mention child birth. I have no idea how it is on Earth, but on Mewni it's pretty bad. I know from the records that a few queens, including myself, have almost died from childbirth." Angie looked between the two offworlders with a quizzical gaze.

"Would magic play a part in that?"

"Well magic does tend to go flying, but, oh. Joe, we're going to want to fit you for some armor, and please resist the urge to grab her hand when the time comes. Goodness knows it was touch and go for poor River." Joe just blinked as he shook his head.

"We need to get back on track. As much as I will want a family with Star, we need to decide if it's even worth the risk. Again, the worst case scenario is Star and our baby ends up dying dye to complications due to age."

"Yes, and there's no telling what a mix of Newman and human will result in."

"Well Queen Moon, we should let an Earth doctor keep up with it then. Our medical technology and knowledge should help her along. Assuming it's safe to keep, she could even have a procedure done to have her safely. Not to mention the amazing painkillers."

"Angie, we will have to discuss these painkillers. But that sounds reasonable. Doesn't it son?" Moon smiled warmly at Joe, who surprisingly, smiled warmly back.

"Yes. I am, willing to let that happen if Star is-" Star and Joe shared a look. It happened again. "We will see. I'm not risking Star for a baby that may not make it either way. But, that's somehow, secondary. And for the rest, I'm tired of being lead around, Glossaryck." The being in question floated in, a bowl of pudding beside him.

"I'm afraid I'm lost." Moon said, the rest of the room nodding and murmuring their loss as well.

"Simply put, Star and I have become a little more emotional from Star being pregnant, but that isn't all of it. And I want to know what is-" Joe suddenly felt scared. A shiver of pure terror that he hadn't ever felt before ran down his spine as Glossaryck looked at him. Though the man was smiling, Joe suddenly felt he had done something that he would massively regret.

"Joe, I was going to speak to you in private, but I guess you forced my hand. I know exactly what is causing your issue, and it isn't good. Inside of you, in place of your heart, is an egg." No one in the room spoke. Glossaryck had everyone's undivided attention.

"The egg itself is very special, inside of it is a baby Phoenix. It's the being of life itself and it holds immense power. In fact, that being is why you are alive. And in return, you've been feeding it your life. The downside of that is now that you are experiencing the wonders of life, it is beginning to grow rapidly. Causing you to essentially go through pregnancy. This feeds into Star's pregnancy, and with the redundant aura and Blood Moon Bond effects, it's throwing you both out of whack. So, have fun." With that, Glossaryck floated out of the room. Not a word was spoken, and for several minutes there was nothing. A silent understanding pervading the room.

Then Star moved to Joe, embracing him. In a silent agreement, everyone simply left, leaving Joe and Star alone. It was almost ten minutes later when they heard something. The muffled cries of two young lovers.

"I don't like this." Glossaryck floated in a void, his entire demeanor changed.

"It had to be done Glossaryck. A wrench in the usual process was needed and the boy might just be the catalyst we have been looking for. I mean, even the author has awakened for this, so we can't be too far off."

"**Your sister is correct Glossaryck. I have a plan. And while it won't be a perfect ending, I'll ensure they have a perfect ending in the next one.**"

"... You better. I actually like this brat." With that, Glossaryck disappeared.

"He might need to be taken out longer this time."

"**I have a plan, just please, move your pawn well. We only have one shot at this and I'd prefer to avoid a tragedy."**

"It wil bel one way or another. Won't it."

"**... Please. Don't ask questions no one wants to answer.**"


	13. The Joy of Life

Joe was stroking Star's hair, thinking about the last few days. It had been an almost literal whirlwind. Shortly after the meeting with Glossaryck Joe had decided to make what's left of his life, however long that maybe, pouring his love into Star and their future child. He started off by properly proposing to Star with a family ring he had never thought he would use, an action that the Butterfly's found odd, being that the woman proposes on Mewni. This lead to Star immediately proposing to Joe, using a twisted warnicorn horn.

Moon was happy to see the two moving forward so quickly, and had decided to begin preparations for the wedding. It was still more than half a year away, but that didn't stop Star from being the excited girl she was and telling everybody at school, showing off her engagement ring. Almost the entire school became ecstatic at the engagement, with the exception of a certain head cheerleader, and they had quickly become the talk of the town.

As Joe had expected, there were plenty of people who were against it, either because of age or their own hopes for her partner, but to his surprise, they were the minority. The vast majority cheered them on, an act that put an honest smile on his face. Star meanwhile was somehow monopolizing Joe's time even more, never leaving him alone for more than a few minutes at best. She even tried to follow him to the bathroom at school, an act Ms. Skullnik thankfully stopped. Joe's Mewni schooling was nearly doubled in an attempt to catch him up for the ceremony, currently planned for two days after her birthday.

But for Joe, he had a lot more on his mind than the future wedding. He knew why everyone was fussing about the wedding and the baby. No one wanted to think about the fourteen year old who could die at any moment. And he didn't blame them. He was completely of the same mind, wanting nothing more than to bury himself in doting on Star until their baby was born, then doting on the two of them. He had planned out a few trips for Star, and had signed them up for a few parenting classes and had even convinced Star to check out some exercise groups for mothers. Meanwhile he himself checked out several books from the local library to learn as much as he could to be a father.

Turned out as well that River wanted to now bond with his future son-in-law. He invited Joe on a hunt he was organizing. Sure, Joe wouldn't be allowed to actually hunt, but River thought it a great way to bond as men. It was an offer Joe hadn't even considered refusing, and after, didn't regret. That is why he was now patting Star's head, moving his other hand to her bare stomach, enjoying some time with her as the days started to roll on by, a content smile on his face. Though Star had agreed with everyone's suggestion to abstain from sex for a time, she had grown very used to sleeping nude. Now she only slept with panties on. If only to make it obvious to others she and Joe weren't endangering the life of their unborn child. Joe smiled down at her before taking a deep breath. Tonight Star was extra tired, and combined with her already heavy sleeping, he had to get some perspective on his life.

"Hey Glossaryck, this a bad time?"

"To talk? No." Looking down he noticed the troll lying between him and Star, just on the dip of the covers.

"Good. I need to know. Have you-"

"No idea kiddo. Usually I have a good idea on these things. But not this time."

"Then Glossaryck, here's another one. Will our kid be okay?" Joe looked down, worry pouring out so much even Glossaryck dumped his joking expression.

"Sorry Joe. I don't know that either. I have a vast amount of knowledge, but nature, like I said during Star's mewberty, is like a runaway port-a-potty. I can't even fathom the countless possibilities. Just, do what you think is right. That's the best advice I can give to you."

"I see. Then, do you mind if we go over a few of Mewni's customs and their histories again? I need to get my mind off things and while not the best…" Joe trailed off, but Glossaryck smiled again.

"Sure thing kid." Joe and Glossaryck went over,customs for over an hour before Joe fell asleep. Glossaryck looking over him worriedly.

"Joe. Wake up. We have to go to the doctor." Joe bolted up, Star was facing him in the bed and for a moment, he felt sheer panic. But before he could speak, his racing mind remembered an important detail.

"Right. Right. The baby's first check up." Joe stretched in the bed, feeling the unfamiliar feeling of his boxers as he closed his eyes. He felt a small pop and sighed in relief. When he opened his eyes he noted a happy Star just over him. Without a thought he grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. It was short, but as sweet as any other.

It took a surprisingly little amount of time to get dressed, and soon, they were on their way. Moon got away from her work to be present in the Diaz household. She had chosen to wear a blue blouse and dark blue pants. Her hair was down in a single large braid.

"Are we ready you two?"

"We're ready mom." With a smile Moon opened up a portal, she waved her hand and Star, grabbing Joe's hand, walked through. They came out just infront of the door to the obstetrician, and Moon followed right behind, with the portal closing behind her. The trio walked in and Joe immediately felt uncomfortable. Every eye was immediately on him. Joe shook it off and they headed to the check in.

"Good morning, welcome to Dr. Sylvester's office. Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes, Star Butterfly is here for her checkup." The attendant began typing and after a moment her eyes went wide. She threw a glance at Joe then turned to Moon. I see the appointment. The doctor will be with you in a minute, the, FATHER, can wait outside while the doctor sees you two now." Joe felt a shiver go up his spine. Something about how she said that seemed very off. Both Star and Moon noticed it as well.

"I think it would be better for the father to be present."

"Well Mrs. Butterfly, I am sorry, but for the beginning at least we insist. Especially for such a young couple." The receptionists eyes darted around. Joe finally realized what was going on.

"I see. Well I can wait right here. Whatever the doctor has to say might be embarrassing."

"Joe. What's-"

"It's okay. Go see the doctor." Moon and Star shared a glance as the receptionist quickly got the pair of women out of the reception room. As she returned to her seat she was now openly glaring st Joe. But before he could say anything, Joe found himself being thrown to the ground.

"Echo Creek PD. You're under arrest for statutory rape." Before Joe could even say a word, he felt an electric shock go through his body.

"He's got a weapon!" The last sound he heard was a taser. Then nothing.

"He'll wake up."

"Ma'am, we really need you to stay back and wait for the paramedics."

"Says the officer who attacked a minor then nearly killed him when his device activated to save him!"

"Look, the person who called was-"

"A twenty-four year old woman."

"... We may have placed this on the wrong couple."

"I will sue you!"

"Ma'am, you need to calm down."

"My brother might be dying because no one here did their jobs and you want me to calm down? Fuck you!"

"Ugh." The room went silent as Joe groaned. Opening his eyes, he noticed a large group of people around him.

"Joe!" Multiple voices yelled as he was suddenly embraced from the floor. Star, Olivia and Moon were doing their best to hold him.

"How is he- No, not the time. Look sir, we're taking you to the hospital for-"

"No you aren't." Olivia was pissed. "You broke many different procedures for this and violated multiple laws, you're lucky he's fine."

"We're sorry ma'am, but there was a mistake. And plenty of girls are hurt by their partners and-"

"Joe never hurt me, and I'm sure my words and our families words matter a lot. Yet you simply decided to arrest and attack an unarmed and ultimately, innocent minor without confirming if there was even a crime to begin with."

"Yes, but-"

"Enough. Leave now, or you'll wish I stopped at a large lawsuit."

"As you wish. Our superiors will be in touch for your statements." With that the two officers left. Leaving the room quiet for a moment, until Olivia spoke up.

"Well, are we seeing the doctor or not?"

"I, I'll do what I can, miss." The receptionist practically ran back as Moon began to turn all her attention towards Joe who was now struggling to get

"The nerve of some people. Joe, are you okay?"

"Oh, you know me. Lot of pain, but it'll pass. What's more important, is seeing a doctor." Like clockwork. The receptionist appeared.

"I'll take you to a room. The doctor will be in when they are done with their current patient." Without a word Moon stood up and moved slightly towards the woman. Star took a moment and stood up as well, carrying Joe princess style. As the women walked forward, Joe looked around the room. Most of the waiters were now very sheepish, almost apologetic, and a little shocked. Quickly they were lead down a hall and into a room, the receptionist noticing how Star waa carrying Joe.

"Uh, ma'am, if he can't walk on his own we should call some paramedics for him."

"And chance another incident? No. And if you're worried about the baby, don't. No child of ours would fall because of lifting someone so light." The receptionist just nodded and let the trio into the room. She quickly left, leaving them alone.

"So, what happened?"

"Well, we heard you scream and shortly after we were in the front again. We saw them using some weapon on you and we went into action. That lady tried to stop us, but when mom changed into her butterfly form she realized she was outclassed. The rest you can probably imagine."

"Yeah. Moo, I mean, MOM is pretty strong."

"Ooooohh! You called me mom." Moon hugged Joe and Star, sheer joy erupting from her. "My babies." Joe couldn't help but smile. He missed this feeling. They stayed like that for a little while, then a very upset doctor quickly threw open the door.

"So. I suspect the young lady is the patient of the day?" Drawing attention was a tall woman in a long, button down lab coat. She had short black hair done up in a messy ponytail. She was also extraordinarily slim. "My name is Doctor Elizabeth Marigold." She walked in, barely acknowledging anyone in the room.

"Yes, I'm-"

"Star Butterfly, delusional girl who got knocked up by a good for nothing. Not sure what you gave my receptionist, but I'll make sure the police deal with that. So, how do you want the abortion?"

"Excu-"

"Quiet boy. Now, injection or pill?" Moon transformed into her butterfly form, seething in rage.

"Will you shut up and pull your head out of your own ass!?" The doctor looked at Moon stunned, then she screamed.

It was a half-hour later when the three of them left, vowing to find another doctor and that she would rue the day she nearly killed royalty for her own judgements. And as they would soon learn, the doctor wasn't exactly in the clear, she had several malpractice lawsuits against her she had kept quiet and she hired only women who shared her view on men. Apparently she had a very interesting definition of rape and abuse. She did checkout Star and gave her a very hurried okay, but they decided to get a second opinion from the same office Angie had gone to for Marco.

Thankfully, they had an opening the next day and things went much better. Star was in good health and while nothing showed up for the baby, the doctor did recommend Star stay away from physical exertion, such as sex, for a while. Star decided to continue to listen, and soon, time was flying. Days turned to weeks and as snow began to fall, things were looking up.

The baby was two and a half months along. Star had occasional morning sickness, and her cravings were really odd, but besides the occasional demand for raw iron, it was relatively smooth sailing. The baby still not noticeable, but that didn't stop either from trying to show the baby affection. A rub here, a kiss there, and of course Joe was studying up on how to be a proper father. He didn't have very many examples to go on. And during one trip to the library, the dream, turned into a nightmare.

"Excuse me, are you Joseph?" Joe, reading through numerous book titles for the past few minutes, jumped. He had been so preoccupied he hadn't even registered someone had come up behind him.

"Um, yes. I'm-" Joe stopped mid sentence. He had turned around and was now face to face with a human sized lizard in a suit.

"Sorry about this, but I need you, out of the picture. Permanently." Without giving Joe a chance to respond, he rushed forward, cutting the air with a disturbing pair of scissors, and tossing Joe in one swift motion. He didn't even get a chance to scream as flew out of the portal, and into the ocean. Joe dipped below the surface for just a moment before he came back up, nothing but water in sight. He began to panic and scream, flailing about as he realized, he wasn't on Earth anymore. He was lost, alone, and stranded. As the sound of a thunderstorm on the horizon grabbed his attention, Joe did the one thing that made any sense.

He screamed.

"You've gone too far!"

"Glossaryck, calm-"

"No. Joe and Star were happy. They were starting a family. 'He' wasn't even stirring! Why do this. Why make Toffee-"

"Two things Glossaryck. Two things. First, Toffee did that on his own. My script is losing its strength so yes, he's stirring. Second, they will be reunited, but, you need to be there for Star. Now, Marco has been kidnapped, soon Star will invade the castle. I will do what I can to get Joe back. The original script is worthless, I'm rewriting. You need to protect Star. She must not marry that daft fool!"

"Who are you talking about?"

"... Glossaryck, I hate to say it, but if you don't know, I need you to act on your best judgement. I've got to figure out what's going on. Even if I have to get involved directly."

"... I'll do my best, Author."


End file.
